Ashland Dam and Spillway

Description and history

The dam and spillway were built in Ashland, a rural outer suburb west of Boston, in 1885 as one of the later elements of Boston's second major water supply system. This system impounded large sections of the Sudbury River, primarily in Framingham, from where the water was piped toward Boston via the Sudbury Aqueduct. Water impounded by the Ashland dam was originally fed to the aqueduct by a pair of 48 in pipes.

The dam is an earthen embankment, built 83 ft above bedrock and 54 ft above the level of the reservoir. There is a concrete core wall about 8 ft thick at the bottom and 2.5 ft at the top. The spillway lies at the eastern end of the dam, and is constructed of granite rubble, and a series of steps made of granite laid in concrete. The spillway is 630 ft long, and is naturalistically designed to resemble a brook descending through landscape. Water exiting the spillway flows north in Cold Spring Brook to join a branch of the Sudbury River.

By 1927, the reservoir was part of the system's backup elements, and a pipe was laid to feed its water into the Sudbury Reservoir; this pipe was never used. The Ashland reservoir was taken out of service in 1947; along with surrounding land, it was turned over to the state and became Ashland State Park.

The dam was originally topped by a gatehouse; it was demolished in 1976 after repeated vandalism. In 1990, the dam and spillway were added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The park, with dam and spillway at its northern end, is administered by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

References

References

1. {{NRISref. 2008a
2. Logan, Henry G.. (July 1, 1948). "State House News". The Morning Union.
3. "NRHP nomination for Ashland Dam and Spillway". Commonwealth of Massachusetts.