Rare Chance To Tour Wachusett Dam — World's Largest Built By Hand — On Sunday

CLINTON, MA — For just three hours Sunday, you have the chance to walk across a record-breaking dam that holds billions of gallons of water feeding much of eastern Massachusetts.

The biannual Wachusett Dam Day will offer tours and up close views of the structure where it blocks the Nashua River south of downtown Clinton.

Although dwarfed by the main Quabbin Reservoir, the Wachusett Dam holds back 65 billion gallons of water for the Massachusetts Water Resources system. The dam was built block-by-granite block starting in 1900, and was long the largest hand-built dam in the world. The dam towers 185 feet above the Nashua River below, and measures nearly 1/5 of a mile across.

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation will open the dam from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, with a guided tour beginning slightly earlier at 9:30 a.m. During the opening, the public can walk across the dam, and enjoy trails around the site.

The top of the dam was closed to the public in the 1990s due to safety concerns, although trails around the top of the structure are open year-round. DCR opens the dam for walks once each year in spring and fall.

No dogs are allowed during the dam day open. Limited parking is available along Route 70 near the top of the dam, and at either Clinton Middle School or Clinton High School, which are both about a 1-mile walk from the dam along a dirt pathway. Find out more on the DCR website.

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