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.
Enfield House, an on-campus living facility at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, is named after the former town.
Much of the novel Infinite Jest takes place in Enfield, which is actually a fictional stand-in for Brighton. The Enfield Tennis Academy, a major location in the novel, is located there.
Source: Tougias, Michael. Quabbin: A History And Explorer's Guide. Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts: On Cape Publications, 2002.
External links
http://menotomymaps.com/quab_1.html. Map showing the towns buried under Quabbin as they looked in 1912 with original house locations and current reservoir water level
Encyclopedia
top
