Page 9 - BusinessWest February 19, 2024

“It started as
a personal project, and the initial research was mostly on our house. As
I learned more about Marion ... it seemed like every bit of research led to more.”
But Smith’s story did far more than solve a mystery surrounding Palladino’s new home.
It inspired her to want to dig deeper into the lives of those who, like Smith, were told to pack up and leave and then watch as their community was obliterated to bring much-needed water to the fast- growing city of Boston and its suburbs. It inspired her to want to know more about what those final years, months, weeks, days, and even hours were like.
So, Palladino, secretary to the board of trustees at Smith College, started the research that would eventually lead to her first book: Lost Towns of the Swift River Valley: Drowned by the Quabbin.
It tells the stories of three individuals who were forced to leave their lifelong homes to make way for Boston’s reservoir — Smith; Willard ‘Doc’ Segur, the valley’s beloved country doctor and town leader; and Henry Howe, Enfield’s postmaster and general-store proprietor.
The book came out in late 2022, and
over the ensuing year, Palladino has criss-
crossed the state on a book tour of sorts
that took her to libraries and historical societies. She talked about her book and the research that went into it, but also about her home and the connection it provides to Smith, and an intriguing bill now in committee that seeks regional equity and recompense for the Swift River Valley and its people (more on that later).
Through the book and the talks, she said she believes she’s cre- ated a greater understanding of all that was lost to build the Quab- bin. Most understand fully what was gained, she added, but her stories help convey the price that came with this 20th-century engi- neering marvel.
Elena Palladino says learning the story of her Ware home inspired her to dig deeper into the lives of those displaced by the Quabbin.
It is this profound loss that she now feels each time she visits the Quabbin, which is only 10 minutes from her home.
“It’s a very beautiful place,” she said. “But I do think it’s impor- tant to remember that’s it’s a beauty that comes from the loss of
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