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To: A. Patriot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Enfield was a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, location 42°19′N, 072°22′W. The town was incorporated in 1816 from portions of Greenwich and Belchertown. It was named in honor of one of its early settlers, Robert Field. General Joseph Hooker, Union general during the American Civil War, was once a resident, and his grandfather was once a town leader.

It was centered at the junction of the east and west branches of the Swift River, and the Athol Branch of the Boston and Albany Railroad ran through the town. The town was disincorporated on April 28, 1938 and portions of the town were annexed to the adjacent towns of Belchertown, New Salem, Pelham, and Ware. (Not all of the former town is presently in Hampshire County; the portion ceded to New Salem is now in Franklin County.) The headquarters of the Metropolitan District Commission during the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir was located in the former town, and was the last building razed in the Swift River Valley, in 1940. The majority of the town center now lies submerged beneath the reservoir, although the Quabbin Observatory and Enfield Lookout, located on scenic Quabbin Hill, as well as the main entrance and headquarters of Quabbin State Park, a popular tourist destination with an emphasis on state history and nature, are all within the former town's limits.

11 posted on 08/15/2007 7:31:06 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: trisham

Since this is being reported by the Hartford Courant, I believe the Enfield in question is Enfield, CT, a town about 20 minutes north of Hartford on I-91, across the MA state line from Longmeadow.


23 posted on 08/15/2007 8:04:47 AM PDT by scdown
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To: trisham
Thanks Trisham. That explains it.

My father's family lived in the town when it was being dismantled. My grandfather worked for the MDC and his was one of the last families to move. He and my father dis-assembled a house he bought for $10 and moved it to Belchertown.

I have been to the lookout tower but didn't know it is/was part of the town.

There are still hard feelings about the destruction of all the towns so that Boston could take their water.

24 posted on 08/15/2007 8:11:55 AM PDT by A. Patriot (CZ 52's ROCK)
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