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Prescott was a 
File:Golden Rule Grange-52, Patrons of Husbandry, barn and hall ("Grange Hall"), Prescott, Mass., Feb. 15, 1928 Parcel no. 428-5, Golden Rule Grange -52 - DPLA - 0b8ea0b0b57fa8b50dfd42b2b9ffd22c.jpg, Golden Rule Grange #52, Patrons of Husbandry, barn and hall ("Grange Hall"), Prescott, Mass., Feb. 15, 1928 Parcel no. 428-5, Golden Rule Grange #52, February 15, 1928. Massachusetts. Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Metropolitan District Water Supply Commission, Quabbin Reservoir, Photographs of Real Estate Takings, Massachusetts Archives
town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
in Hampshire County, Massachusetts
Hampshire County is a historical and judicial county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2020 census, the population was 162,308. Its most populous municipality is Amherst (due to seasonal student population; the largest y ...
, United States. It was incorporated in 1822 from portions of Pelham and New Salem, and was partially built on Equivalent Lands
The Equivalent Lands were several large tracts of land that the Province of Massachusetts Bay made available to settlers from the Connecticut Colony after April 1716. This was done as compensation for an equivalent area of territory that was under ...
. It was named in honor of Colonel William Prescott
William Prescott (February 20, 1726 – October 13, 1795) was an American officer in the Revolutionary War best known for his service at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Life
Prescott was born in Groton, Massachusetts to Benjamin Prescott (169 ...
, who commanded the American forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Boston, Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peri ...
. It was disincorporated on April 28, 1938, as part of the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir. It was the least populous of the four unincorporated towns, with barely 300 residents by 1900. Upon dissolution, portions of the town were annexed to the adjacent towns of New Salem and Petersham. The majority of the former town (the New Salem portion) is still above water, and is known as the Prescott Peninsula. The public is not allowed on the peninsula except for an annual tour given by the Swift River Valley Historical Society, or for hikes conducted by the Society. None of the land is in Hampshire County any longer; the New Salem portion is in Franklin County; and the Petersham portion is in Worcester County.
As with the nearby town of Dana, after the dissolution of incorporation, houses were moved or razed, but cellar holes remained. The Prescott First Congregational Church, located in the village of Prescott Four Corners, was moved to South Hadley and is now the home of the Joseph Allen Skinner Museum.
The former site of Prescott Center was home to the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory from 1969 to 2011.
Daniel Shays
Daniel Shays (August 1747 – September 29, 1825) was an American soldier, revolutionary and farmer famous for allegedly leading Shays' Rebellion, a populist uprising against controversial debt collection and tax policies that took place in Mass ...
, leader of the 1787 rebellion which bears his name, was a resident of that part of Pelham which later became the southern part of Prescott. The site of his former home is still above water; but the house was gone by 1927, and in any event the site is inaccessible to the general public. The Conkey Tavern, located roughly to the west of the Shays site, was where the Shays Rebellion was largely planned. Its site is now under water.
The Atkinson Tavern, once the centerpiece of the small village of Atkinson Hollow, stands today, renovated and expanded, in West Springfield, Massachusetts
West Springfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 28,835 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is also known as "West ...
as the Storrowton Tavern, on the grounds owned by the Eastern States Exposition. The former Town Hall, once located just south of Atkinson Hollow, is inaccessible to the general public, and stands today off of Route 32 in Petersham.
The village of North Prescott, on the border between Prescott and New Salem, remains partially open to public access. Although the site of the North Prescott Methodist Episcopal Church is vacant, the former parsonage—now a private home which is not open to the public—remains on its original site. The church building itself is now the home of the Swift River Valley Historical Society in North New Salem, where it was moved in 1985. Prior to this the church stood at its site on the New Salem line until 1949, when it was initially moved to Orange as home of the former Prescott Historical Society. A few other structures remain.
Prescott House, an on-campus living facility at Hampshire College
Hampshire College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges ...
in Amherst, Massachusetts, is named after the former town.
Photos
Other Quabbin towns
*Greenwich
Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...
* Enfield
* Dana
References
* Tougias, Michael. ''Quabbin: A History and Explorer's Guide''. Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts: On Cape Publications, 2002.External links
* https://web.archive.org/web/20161017095551/http://menotomymaps.com/quab_1.html. Map showing the towns buried under Quabbin as they looked in 1912 with original house locations and current reservoir water level. {{Massachusetts Former towns in Massachusetts Ghost towns in Massachusetts Populated places in Hampshire County, Massachusetts 1938 disestablishments in Massachusetts Forcibly depopulated communities in the United States 1822 establishments in Massachusetts Populated places established in 1822 Populated places disestablished in 1938