The Lost Village of Kent Traditional Geocache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Once upon a time, before the reservoir waters rose, there stood a village by the name of Kent. The village was located just to the north of the site of the Gainer Memorial Dam, which is currently crossed by route 12. When the dam was first built, it was actually called the Kent Dam until 1949, when it was renamed for Joseph H. Gainer, mayor of Providence during the dam's construction. A plaque set in stone monuments the naming of the dam; the stone sits on a pull-off at the western end of the dam.
In my youth, a series of walking trails criss-crossed the area immediately below the dam, and you could walk right up to it and climb to route 12. The dam is enormous, and made in the old style -- entirely out of earth! The endless grass-covered hill was a sight to behold. You can get a glimpse of it to the south as you pass over on route 12. In those days, you could park across the street from the water works on route 116 and enjoy the scenery. Sadly, since 9/11, this area has become Fortress Gainer. The monument pull-off is barricaded off, as well as Old Scituate Avenue, both of which provided spectacular views of the reservoir.
The building of the reservoir was of serious concern to the mills downstream on the North Branch Pawtuxet and Pawtuxet rivers. A large conduit was built to provide water flow downstream; the city reached an agreement with the mills to allow 70 million gallons of water to flow downstream each day, provided the reservoir was full by June 1; otherwise a lesser 65 million gallons would be released until it was full. This provided a nice steady rate of flow to the Pawtuxet (except, of course...in the case of heavy rains!)
To read more about the fascinating story of the creation of the Scituate Reservoir, you may want to read "The Lost Villages of Scituate" by Raymond A. Wolf.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ebpx