For 20 years, I lived about a mile away from the Quabbin Reservoir in western/central Massachusetts near what was once known as the Swift River Valley.

In the late 1930s, 4 towns in this valley were dis-incorporated and flooded in order to create the reservoir that now serves the Boston area. It’s a nearly-unimaginable scenario now, but back then, and during the Depression, each of the towns voted to disband. Trees were cleared; homes, rail lines, and monuments were relocated; and a dam and dike were built to allow the valley flood to form what is now known locally as “The Quabbin.”

Today, the watershed provides clean drinking water for hundreds of thousands, and is also home to much wildlife (including bald eagles). Recreation on the water is rather limited, but the old roads around the reservoir are open for walking and cycling, and one can see occasional evidence (cellar holes, for example) of what life used to be like way-back-when. You can even visit one, un-flooded, town common.

I decided to somehow honor this special place by creating a design series based on the Swift River Valley towns, with a design inspired by each of the towns:

Enfield, Ma.
Dana, Ma.
Prescott, Ma.
Greenwich, Ma.

The designs (so far) now include:
Prescott Cardigan,
Prescott DK Cardigan,
Steel Rail,
A Hat for Dana,
Enfield Pullover, and
Swift River Cardigan

This will be an ongoing project that begins in 2013 and will hopefully be complete by the end of 2014.