Ashland Dam and Spillway, United States historic place
Ashland Dam and Spillway is an earthen embankment dam located at the northern end of Ashland Reservoir in Ashland, Massachusetts. The structure consists of a roughly 83-foot tall earth dam with a concrete core and a 630-foot spillway made of granite and concrete with stepped sections designed to guide overflow water.
The facility was constructed in 1885 as part of Boston's second major water supply project to extract drinking water from the Sudbury River. The gatehouse that once crowned the dam was removed in 1976 following vandalism, and the site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The name reflects the dam's original purpose as a water storage facility for Boston's needs. Visitors can observe how the spillway was designed to resemble a natural stream flowing through the landscape, revealing how engineers of that era sought to integrate their structures with the surrounding environment.
The site is accessible via West Union Street with parking available for visitors. The area around the dam is easy to navigate with gentle slopes, making it suitable for a relaxed walk to observe the spillway and surrounding water views.
The spillway was deliberately designed to resemble a natural stream, with granite steps extending over 630 feet down the slope. This approach was unusual for infrastructure projects of the 1880s and demonstrates how engineers of that era sought to balance practical function with landscape aesthetics.
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