Special Projects

Restoration of the Keystone Bridge Click here to learn more about how the Friends of the Quabbin is working to save this historical structure.

Oral History Project: We are helping to preserve the history of Quabbin through our Oral History Project. We have already produced nearly two hundred audio and videotaped interviews with former Swift River Valley residents and people who worked on the construction of Quabbin Reservoir. We are currently making this collection more permanent by transferring the existing audiotapes to CD-ROM disks. Many excerpts from the interviews can be heard on our audiotape, “Here Was Home”, which was designed to accompany visitors on a driving tour of Quabbin Reservation, and is available at the Quabbin Visitor Center.

The Les and Terry Campbell Quabbin Visitor Also available for purchase at the Visitor Center are dozens of Quabbin-related books, postcards, pins, hiking and historical maps and much more. Unfortunately, items are not available for purchase through this website.

Tuesday Tea Friends of Quabbin hosts a gathering of descendants of former Swift River Valley residents and anyone interested in the Valley on the 1st Tuesday of each month at the Visitor Center, from 1PM to 3PM. Anyone may attend and listen to tales of the former valley towns.. We also sponsor a Tuesday Tea Holiday Party in December and a picnic held each August at the Hank’s Meadow picnic area,

Newsletter FOQ publishes Quabbin Voices, a quarterly newsletter full of news, information, poetry, photos and stories from Quabbin’s past and present, as well as events that may well shape its future. Quabbin Voices is free with membership in FOQ — have a peek!

Other Activities FOQ has published Quabbin Letters, a collection of articles that originally appeared in the Springfield Union in 1938, The Quabbin Club Cook Book, originally published for the Enfield centennial in 1916, and other books on Quabbin.

FOQ maintains archives of oral histories and photographs of the Swift River Valley, including a large collection by Burt Brooks, official photographer for the town of Greenwich during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. A permanent collection of Quabbin-related paintings and photographs is also housed at the Visitor Center, and FOQ continues to help support exhibits of interest at the center. We also sponsor special events, like last year’s bus tours of Quabbin Park, featuring our oral history tape “Here Was Home”, the annual Memorial Day Services at Quabbin Park Cemetery, the annual Holiday Party in December and others.