Stow is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is located 21 miles (34 km) west of Boston, in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts. The population was 7,174 at the 2020 census. Stow was officially incorporated in 1683 with an area of approximately 40 square miles (100 km2).
The Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.
Maynard is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is located 22 miles west of Boston, in the MetroWest and Greater Boston region of Massachusetts and borders Acton, Concord, Stow and Sudbury. The town's population was 10,746 as of the 2020 United States Census.
The Quabbin Reservoir is the largest inland body of water in Massachusetts, and was built between 1930 and 1939. Along with the Wachusett Reservoir, it is the primary water supply for Boston, 65 miles (105 km) to the east, and 40 other cities and towns in Greater Boston. The Quabbin also supplies water to three towns west of the reservoir and acts as backup supply for three others. By 1989, it supplied water for 2.5 million people, about 40% of the state's population at the time. It has an aggregate capacity of 412 billion US gallons (1,560 GL) and an area of 38.6 square miles (99.9 km2).
The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) is a public authority in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that provides wholesale drinking water and sewage services to certain municipalities and industrial users in the state, primarily in the Boston area.
Fresh Pond is a reservoir and park in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 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 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.
Lake Boon is a lake in eastern Massachusetts covering about 163 acres (66 ha) in the towns of Stow and Hudson, Massachusetts. The lake is approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long and consists of four basins connected by narrows. The first and largest basin at the north-west end of the lake stretches from a dam along Barton Road in Stow down to narrows just above the towns south border. It is the only part of the lake that is completely within Stow. The second basin is about half the size of the first and straddles the border with Hudson. The 3rd and 4th basins at the eastern end of the lake are much smaller and less easily navigable due to shallow waters and significant plant-growth.
Silver Lake is a 640-acre (2.6 km2) lake in Pembroke, Kingston, and Plympton, Massachusetts, south of Route 27 and east of Route 36. The Pembroke/Plympton town line is entirely within the lake, and a portion of the western shoreline of the lake is the town line with Halifax. It used to be called the Jones River Pond, but its name was changed to Silver Lake in the 1800s in a marketing effort to sell more ice from it. The lake is the principal water supply for the City of Brockton, whose water treatment plant is on Route 36 in Halifax. The inflow of the pond is Tubbs Meadow Brook, and the pond is the headwaters of the Jones River. Occasionally water is diverted into Silver Lake from Monponsett Pond in Halifax and Furnace Pond in Pembroke whenever there is a water shortage. Although the lake is a reservoir, which prevents recreational activities to keep the drinking water clean, the water from the diversions are not and can pump in contaminated water. Monponsett Pond in particular has reoccurring toxic algae growths which get transferred into the lake. It is supposed to be the main source of the Jones River by contributing about twenty percent of the river's flow, but the Forge Pond Dam near its base lets out minimal, some years no, water to the river. This also prevents migratory aquatic animals from reaching the lake. Brockton prefers to keep the dam to have more accessible water. Access to the pond is through Silver Lake Sanctuary, a 92-acre (370,000 m2) property where one can walk, hike and fish, which is located at the end of Barses Lane, off Route 27 in Kingston.
Wekepeke is the name of an aquifer and brook in Sterling, Massachusetts, United States. The aquifer has a land surface area of 11.5 square miles (30 km2).
The Middlesex Fells Reservoirs Historic District is a historic district roughly bounded by Pond St., Woodland Rd., I-93, and MA 28 in Stoneham and Medford, Massachusetts. It encompasses a portion of the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a state park managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The principal features of the district are three reservoirs and their associated gate houses and pumping stations, which were developed by the Metropolitan District Commission starting in the late 19th century. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The Assabet River Rail Trail (ARRT) is a partially-completed multi-use rail trail running through the cities and towns of Marlborough, Hudson, Stow, Maynard, and Acton, Massachusetts, United States. It is a conversion of the abandoned Marlborough Branch of the Fitchburg Railroad. The right-of-way parallels the Assabet River in the trail's midsection. At the north end it veers north to the South Acton MBTA train station while the south end veers south to Marlborough. When fully completed, the end-to-end length will be 12.5 miles (20.1 km). As of June 2020, the southwest 5.1-mile (8.2 km) portion of the trail from Marlborough to Hudson and the northeast 3.4-mile (5.5 km) portion running from the South Acton MBTA station to the Maynard–Stow border are completed. No current plans exist for paving the 4.0-mile (6.4 km) gap in Stow and Hudson between the two trail ends.
The Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge is a 2,230-acre (9.0 km2) protected National Wildlife Refuge located approximately 25 miles (40 km) west of Boston and 4 miles (6.4 km) west of the Eastern Massachusetts National Wildlife Refuge Complex Headquarters, along the Assabet River. It is located in portions of the towns of Hudson, Maynard, Stow and Sudbury. The Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge consists of two separate pieces of land. The larger northern section is just north of Hudson Road, extending north to the Assabet River. The southern section is located to the south of Hudson Road. There is a visitor center located in the northern section on Winterberry Way.
Spot Pond is a lake in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The pond is within the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a Massachusetts state park. It is almost entirely located within the boundaries of Stoneham, Massachusetts.
Hudson is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, with a total population of 20,092 as of the 2020 census. Before its incorporation as a town in 1866, Hudson was a neighborhood and unincorporated village of Marlborough, Massachusetts, and was known as Feltonville. From around 1850 until the last shoe factory burned down in 1968, Hudson was a mill town specializing in the production of shoes and related products. At one point the town had 17 shoe factories, many of them powered by the Assabet River, which runs through town. The many factories in Hudson attracted immigrants from Canada and Europe. Today most residents are of either Portuguese or Irish descent, with a smaller percentage being of French, Italian, English, or Scotch-Irish descent. While some manufacturing remains in Hudson, the town is now primarily residential. Hudson is served by the Hudson Public Schools district.
Fort Meadow Reservoir is a 260-acre pond in between the town of Hudson and city of Marlborough, Massachusetts, United States. At its widest point, the pond measures roughly 700 meters (2,300 ft). From end to end, it measures 1.54 miles (2,480 m) long.
[[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
Matthew Boon was the first English settler in what is now Stow, Massachusetts. After his murder in 1676 by Native Americans, he became the namesake of what is now Lake Boon.
Summer Hill is a 351-foot (107 m) hill overlooking the Assabet River in Maynard, Massachusetts "with a gradual slope to the north and west". Today the hill is largely conservation land with 24 acres of public hiking trails, and the summit of hill also contains a radio tower and the town's steel and concrete water tanks. It is the highest point in Maynard.
