Northampton, Williamsburg may collaborate on hiking trail to historical disaster site

It was rainy Saturday morning in 1874 when a massive stone-and-earth dam in the woods of Williamsburg, MA gave way, sending 600 million gallons of water and a wall of debris plummeting into Haydenville and Leeds, killing 139 people and destroying factories and five villages along the Mill River.

The remains of that ill-fated dam still stand, but the site is hard for hikers to find because a private landowner has blocked access to the traditional trailhead at the end of Judd Lane in Williamsburg.

Now the city of Northampton, which owns the dam site as part of its drinking water protection land, may collaborate with Williamsburg to create a new trail to the site. Other private landowners have agreed to let the trail cross their property instead.

According to the proposed memorandum, Northampton will allow the construction and public use of the trail by the Williamsburg Woodland Trails Committee, which will monitor and maintain the path, including a wooden pedestrian bridge.

The dam, completed in 1866, was 600 feet long and 43 feet high, holding back a 100-acre reservoir. It had been built by 11 manufacturers who formed the Williamsburg Reservoir Company.

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