The Townshend Dam

Today, Thursday, we took a trip to Grandma Miller's bakery because Thursday is chocolate eclair day! They make eclairs only on Thursday, so we get them fresh, along with a dozen morning glory muffins. We eat the eclairs in the car, with a cup of hot decaf coffee, and bring the muffins home. It was a beautiful day today, a perfect, end-of-summer day, cool, crisp, sunny, breezy, glorious. On the way back, I asked Ellen to stop at the Townshend Dam, something we go past every time we go up to Grandma Miller's, but rarely stop.Today we stopped, I took pictures, we parked near the picnic area and walked down toward the beach. The road was closed - a bar was over the road - preventing car traffic but not foot traffic, and we wondered why. It didn't take long to find out: at the bottom of the hill, the road was under water for quite a stretch. We've had a lot of rain, and it obviously has raised the level of the lake above its normal level. So, naturally, it was closed to auto traffic. In the far distance, beyond the section under water, we could see two people walking who obviously had waded through the flooded section. We were not equipped foot-wise to do that! The Townshend Dam was constructed from 1958-1961, which means it was being constructed while I was the minister in Dummerston (1957-1960). I must have gone up to look at the construction, but I don't remember doing so. But by the time it was done and they flooded the area, I was living in Providence, RI doing graduate study at Brown University. So I wasn't around to see the final push. It is a flood-control dam. It is 133 feet high, and the lake it forms holds 11 billion gallons of water. It is controlled by the Reservoir Regulation Team (RRT) in Concord, MA, where they monitor the flow in rivers all over New England and can close or open dams as needed to prevent flooding. They estimate that in the 60 years of its existence, it has prevented almost a billion and a half dollars in flood damage! It cost $7,500,000 to build in 1961 - I guess it has paid for itself many times over! Here is an album of photos of the Townshend Dam:

Looking at the upper generating tower

Looking below the dam

Looking below the dam to the right

Looking across the upper dam toward the recreation area

Looking at the upper dam spillway

The submerged road leading to the beach area

The electrical generating tower

The picnic area