Turners Falls Power Canal

Turners Falls Power Canal

Turners Falls, Massachusetts 01376

Birds of Interest

This hotspot typically remains partially ice free during the winter, making it very productive for waterfowl.

About this Location

The Power Canal Reservoir is on the west side of Turners Falls.

About Turners Falls

See all hotspots at Turners Falls

Turners Falls is an unincorporated village in the town of Montague in Franklin County. Its name is generally used as a metonym for the entire town of Montague, for which it is the business district and comprises more than half the population.

The village has a total area of 2.3 square miles.

The village of Turners Falls was founded in 1868 as a planned industrial community according to the plan of Alvah Crocker, a prominent man from Fitchburg who envisioned in the immense power of the waterfalls the means of establishing a great city. Crocker was influenced by other, earlier and successful experiments in Lowell and elsewhere. Crocker’s vision was to attract industry to the town by offering cheap hydropower that was made by the harnessing of the Connecticut River, through the construction of a dam and canal. His development concept was to sell mill sites along the power canal to those companies and to sell individual building lots to mill workers who would come to work in the mills. The rest of the village was laid out in a horizontal grid pattern with cross streets numerically. Avenue A, the main commercial district, was designed as a grand tree-lined avenue.

Features

  • Roadside viewing

  • Restrooms on site

  • Wheelchair accessible trail

  • Entrance fee

Content from Noah Henkenius and Wikipedia

Last updated December 6, 2023