Quabbin Reservoir Cemetery Photographs | Massachusetts Archives Digital Repository

Quabbin Reservoir Cemetery Photographs, 1928–1945

The Metropolitan District Water Supply Commission was a special construction state agency formed in 1926. As part of its function to design and construct the Quabbin Reservoir, Dam, and Aqueduct, the agency was required to remove interred bodies from cemeteries within the bounds of the Quabbin Reservoir Watershed, and to establish a cemetery to reinter the bodies from the multiple cemeteries. There were approximately 7,500 bodies in thirty-four cemeteries to be addressed. The new thirty-acre cemetery was built in Ware, Massachusetts, 2.5 miles from the Quabbin Reservoir Administration Building in Belchertown. Its landscape was designed by Arthur A. Shurcliff.
The new cemetery, named Quabbin Park Cemetery, officially opened on August 25, 1932. On October 4, 1944, the cemetery removals from the former cemeteries were completed. Beginning in 1927, the MDWSC began a census of the burials in all of the affected cemeteries and photographed each cemetery lot. Of the approximately 7,500 bodies, 945 were relocated to "outside cemeteries." In addition to cemeteries in the four disincorporated towns, there are cemeteries in the towns of Belchertown, New Salem, Pelham, Petersham, and Shutesbury.

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Snow Tomb, Snow Cemetery, Lot 19, Petersham, Mass., July 12, 1939: Mrs. Grace T. Adams, Tomb ? Release

Photo Showing Stone of John and Mary Torrance Damaged During Winter, East Half Lot 1758, Quabbin Park Cemetery, Ware, Mass.,
Apr. 15, 1947

Fred Witherell, Woodlawn Cemetery, Old Section, Lot 184, Enfield, Mass., Sept. 20, 1928: Fred Witherell, Q-97

Looking East Over Section 1,
Quabbin Park Cemetery, Ware, Mass.,
Aug. 9, 1938

Emily L. Goddard, Lincoln Cemetery, Stone 14, Petersham, Mass.,
June 8, 1945

William Milsop, Woodlawn Cemetery, New Section, Lot 85, Enfield, Mass., Sept. 7, 1928: William Milsop, Q-227

James Thayer, Dana Center Cemetery, Lot 171, Dana, Mass., June 9, 1937: Chauncey Thayer, Q-1217

Receiving Vault, Quabbin Park Cemetery, Ware, Mass., July 6, 1938

Johnson, Dana Center Cemetery,
Lot 168, Dana, Mass., June 9, 1937: Redford K. Johnson, Q-1224

Mary A. and Francis R. Bruce, Lincoln Cemetery, Stones 5, 6, Petersham, Mass., June 8, 1945

General View of Brown's
Evergreen Cemetery, Dana, Mass., Sept. 16, 1937: Indexed on Acc. 857, Map of Cemetery Locations

Ruth Carter, Hannah (Spring) Carter, Snow Cemetery, Lot 10, Petersham, Mass., July 12, 1939: Lester H. Carter, Release 290

Tablet on East Side Entrance to Quabbin Park Cemetery, Ware, Mass., Sept. 08, 1939

Church Cemetery Tomb, Church Cemetery, Section 2 at Left, Section 1 at Right, Enfield, Mass., Jan. 10, 1938: Indexed on Acc. 857, Cemetery Locations Plan

Quabbin Park Cemetery, Lot Index Plan, Ware, Mass., June 1, 1932

Curated by: Yolande Bennett

Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Quabbin Reservoir Cemetery Photographs, 1928–1945

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