Stony Brook is a stream largely running through Lincoln and Weston, Massachusetts, then forming the Weston/Waltham boundary, and emptying into the Charles River across from the Waltham/Newton boundary. It has two tributaries, Cherry Brook and Hobbs Brook, and its watershed includes about half of Lincoln and Weston as well as parts of Lexington and Waltham. Since 1887, it has been the water supply for Cambridge, along with the Hobbs Brook Reservoir. [1]
As early as 1662, water flowing into the Charles River helped spark business enterprise. Various water mills have been erected at the mouth of Stony Brook. A corn mill was built in January of 1679-80. A paper mill was built in about 1780 that was later purchased by the Boston Manufacturing Company in 1798 and converted into a cotton mill. In about 1802, another mill was built on Stony Brook to manufacture wrapping paper [2]
In the late 19th century, Eben Norton Horsford identified the mouth of Stony Brook as the location of a supposed Norse city, Norumbega, [3] and commissioned the Norumbega Tower, which carries a long inscription describing the supposed city.
There are three large ponds, all artificial, in the Stony Brook watershed: the Cambridge Reservoir (Hobbs Pond), the Stony Brook Reservoir (Turtle Pond), and Flint's Pond (also known as Sandy Pond).
In 1887, on the site of Turtle Pond, the city of Cambridge completed construction of the Stony Brook Reservoir Dam, where Stony Brook joins the Charles, as part of its water supply. [4] Stony Brook Reservoir has a drainage area of 23.57 square miles (61.0 km2) and an available storage capacity of 354,000,000 US gallons (1,340,000 m3) (1087 acre-feet). In 1910, Hobbs Pond was dammed to become the Cambridge Reservoir. [5] Its drainage area is 7.25 square miles (18.8 km2) and its storage capacity is 2,338,000,000 US gallons (8,850,000 m3) (7178 acre-feet). [6] Flint's Pond (also known as Sandy Pond) was dammed to become the reservoir for the town of Lincoln; the DeCordova Museum is on its southeast bank.
The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) is a public authority in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that provides wholesale drinking water and sewage services to 3.1 million people in sixty-one municipalities and more than 5,500 large industrial users in the eastern and central parts of the state, primarily in the Boston area.
Norumbega, or Nurembega, is a legendary settlement in northeastern North America which was featured on many early maps from the 16th century until European colonization of the region. It was alleged that the houses had pillars of gold and the inhabitants carried quarts of pearls on their heads.
Fresh Pond is a reservoir and park in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Prior to the Pond's use exclusively as a reservoir, its ice had been harvested by Boston's "Ice King", Frederic Tudor, and others, for shipment to North American cities and to tropical areas around the world. Fresh Pond is bordered by Fresh Pond Parkway, Huron Avenue, Grove Street, Blanchard Road, and Concord Avenue. The neighborhoods surrounding it are Cambridge Highlands to the north, West Cambridge to the east, and Strawberry Hill to the south. The town of Belmont lies to the west.
The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. The DCR's mission is "To protect, promote and enhance our common wealth of natural, cultural and recreational resources for the well-being of all." The agency is the largest landowner in Massachusetts.
The Assabet River is a small, 34.4-mile (55.4 km) long river located about 20 miles (30 km) west of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The Assabet rises from a swampy area known as the Assabet Reservoir in Westborough, Massachusetts, and flows northeast before merging with the Sudbury River at Egg Rock in Concord, Massachusetts, to become the Concord River. The Organization for the Assabet, Sudbury and Concord Rivers, headquartered in West Concord, Massachusetts, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation, protection, and enhancement of the natural and recreational features of these three rivers and their watershed. As the Concord River is a tributary of the Merrimack River, it and the Assabet and Sudbury rivers are part of the larger Merrimack River watershed.
Eben Norton Horsford was an American scientist who taught agricultural chemistry in the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard from 1847 to 1863. Later he was known for his reformulation of baking powder, his interest in Viking settlements in North America, and the monuments he built to Leif Erikson.
The Wachusett Reservoir is the second largest body of water in the state of Massachusetts. It is located in central Massachusetts, northeast of Worcester. It is part of the water supply system for metropolitan Boston maintained by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA). It has an aggregate capacity of 65 billion US gallons (250,000,000 m3) and an area of almost 7 square miles (18 km2). Water from the reservoir flows to the covered Norumbega Storage Facility via the Cosgrove Tunnel and the MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel. The reservoir has a maximum depth of 120 feet (37 m) and a mean depth of 48 feet (15 m).
The Cannonsville Reservoir is a reservoir in the New York City water supply system in Delaware County, New York. It was formed by construction of the Cannonsville Dam on its west end, which impounded over half of the West Branch of the Delaware River. Lying on the western part of the Delaware Watershed, it is the westernmost of New York City's reservoirs. It was placed in service in 1964, and is the most recently constructed New York City-owned reservoir.
The Boyds Corner Reservoir is a small reservoir in Putnam County, New York. It is in the town of Kent, New York, and is about 50 miles north of New York City. It is the northernmost reservoir in the Croton River watershed, but is not part of the New York City water supply system's Croton Watershed. and was formed by impounding the middle of the West Branch of the Croton River, submerging the village of Boyds Corner.
The Bog Brook Reservoir is a 379-acre (153 ha) reservoir in the Croton Watershed in southern New York State, part of the New York City water supply system. It is located in the town of Southeast in Putnam County, approximately 38 miles (61 km) north of New York City. It was formed by the damming of Bog Brook, a small tributary of the East Branch of the Croton River. The reservoir was put into service in 1892, making it one of the older in the system.
The Ware River is a 35.4-mile-long (57.0 km) river in central Massachusetts. It has two forks, its West Branch, which begins in Hubbardston, Massachusetts, and its East Branch, which begins in Westminster, Massachusetts. The Ware River flows southwest through the middle of the state, joins the Quaboag River at Three Rivers, Massachusetts, to form the Chicopee River on its way to the Connecticut River.
The Quinapoxet River is part of the Nashua River watershed in northern Massachusetts in the United States. It is part of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority water system supplying drinking water to the greater Boston area.
Norumbega Park was a recreation area and amusement park located in "Auburndale-on-the-Charles" near Boston, Massachusetts. The associated Totem Pole Ballroom became a well-known dancing and entertainment venue for big bands touring during the 1940s.
The Norumbega Tower is a stone tower erected by Eben Norton Horsford in 1889 to mark the supposed location of Fort Norumbega, a legendary Norse fort and city. It is located in Weston, Massachusetts at the confluence of Stony Brook and the Charles River. The tower is approximately 38 feet (12 m) tall, composed of mortared field stones with a spiral stone staircase. There is no evidence, archaeological or otherwise, to support the assertion that there were Norse settlements anywhere in New England.
Saville Dam is an earthen embankment dam with masonry work on the eastern branch of the Farmington River in southwestern Barkhamsted, Connecticut and central Hartland, Connecticut, dividing the latter into two villages along its hilltops, East and West Hartland. The dam is 135 ft. tall and 1,950 ft. long and has an uncontrolled spillway on its western portion. It creates the Barkhamsted Reservoir which has a volume of 36.8 billion US gallons (139,000,000 m3) and is the primary water source for Hartford, Connecticut. Connecticut Route 318, also known as Saville Dam Road, crosses over the top of the dam.
The Hultman Aqueduct forms part of the water supply system of eastern Massachusetts, managed by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA). The aqueduct extends from Southborough to Weston, connecting the Cosgrove Tunnel to the distribution network in the Greater Boston area. Opened in 1939, it replaced the Weston Aqueduct. It is now itself a secondary system, having been supplanted as the primary conduit in 2003 by the MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel. From 2009 to 2014, it was rehabilitated and taken offline to repair leaks which were causing losses of at least 400,000 US gallons (1,500,000 L) of water per day in the 1990s.
The Sudbury Reservoir is an emergency backup Boston metropolitan water reservoir in Massachusetts, located predominantly in Southborough and Marlborough, with small sections in Westborough and Framingham. It was created when the Sudbury Dam was constructed to impound the Stony Brook branch of the Sudbury River; no part of the reservoir lies in the town of Sudbury. Nearly 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) in the Sudbury Reservoir watershed are administered by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation as a limited-access public recreation area.
Stony Brook is a tributary of the Merrimack River in northeastern Massachusetts, joining the Merrimack at Chelmsford.
[[File:Crotonrivermap.png|thumb|right|Map of the Croton River watershed. Note that this is not identical with the New York City water supply system's "Croton Watershed"{{efn|Numerous small natural lakes and ponds, as well as large Lake Mahopac, are part of the Croton River's watershed but not part of New York City’s supply system. A map of the actual Croton Watershed is found here. ]]
This page is about the Croton River watershed, a hydrological feature. For the component of the New York City water supply system with a similar name, see Croton Watershed
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