December 17th 2011: Getting Lost in Dana, Petersham, and Phillipston

Today, I decided to take a huge risk by trying to find two spots in Petersham for which there is little information about, except their GPS coordinates. The two spots are both situated in the Quabbin Reservoir watershed area, being the crash site of Lieutenant Dewwey Durett's F-94 Starfire airplane, which crashed in on April 3, 1955, and the peak of Soapstone Hill. I had to do a lot of research to figure out the best ways to get there, but even then, I was still wary about getting lost trying to find them. 

The crash site is stated to be located in the area of Quabbin Gate 40, which also happens to be where the old Dana Common used to be. Hence, I headed to the gate, located on Hardwick Road near its junction with Glen Valley Road, parked there and started my hike. The route I took is highlighted below in pink.

The first part of the route was simple enough, following the main road (Petersham Road) all the way to the major crossroads in the area of Skinner Hill Road and Greenwich Dana Road, the old Dana common. Many stone structures indicating the foundations of old demolished buildings littered the roadside, becoming extremely concentrated at the town common. There is also a plaque here indicating the location of the old town common. Pictures of the stony remains follow.

Dana Town Common

Now, on to the crash site. The location's GPS coordinates can be found online and on my summary page, and is the endpoint on my map above, but how to get there is kind of a secret. From my research, I knew it was a path on the left leading away from the Greenwich Dana Road, but where exactly to turn was the big question. Judging from the water body shape, it had to be past the last vestige, where I took these pictures of the Quabbin Reservoir.

After passing this point, I kept on the lookout for the side trail, but somehow did not see any for a long time. I was about to give when it finally appeared, far away from the water's edge. I had my doubts that it would lead anywhere, but still headed onto it. As I continued onward in an easterly direction, I realized I was actually getting closer and closer to the site, and by chance, I happened to notice on my left a small clearing that seemed to have pieces of metal, and found a rough trail leading to it. I had finally found the crash site of the F-94 Starfire. A great sense of achievement came over me at this point, especially because I had thought that I had wasted my time until then. Pictures of the site and the debris found there follow.

When I finally backtracked all the way back to my car at the gate, I had taken more than 2 hours to complete this trek. I decided to go for lunch in order to take a break from the freezing cold. I went to try out the Quabbin Woods Restaurant in town, which was a pretty small cafe. I decided to get the eggs Irish as usual, and it was pretty good.

Feeling a little more energetic after my recent achievement in the morning, I was ready for my next quest: the top of Soapstone Hill. Most sites indicate that Quabbin Gate 36 is the way to get to the top of Soapstone Hill, but looking at the Google Map, it seemed that Gate 37 was much closer, so I decided to go that way instead. Gate 37 can be found at the end of Monson Turnpike Road, although after the intersection with West Street, the road becomes very rugged. I decided not to torture my car and parked at a point before things got really tough, and the rough route I took is shown below on Google Maps.

The road leads all the way past Gate 37 to a stream bridging two sides of the Quabbin Reservoir.
Pictures of the power lines I passed by and the reservoir views follow.
At this point there is a

Right next to the reservoir is a path, labelled "37-2", leading northwards towards the hill, so I decided to follow it. Along the way, somehow by luck, I happened to notice a blue arrow on a tree to my left, indicating the presence of a path. The hill seemed to be in that direction, so I made a decision to follow it, and as it turns out, I was right, finally reaching the top, huffing and puffing, where there were great views of the reservoir below.

After backtracking all the way back to my car, I decided to give the Fisher Museum another go, but again it was closed, as it is only open weekdays this time of year. At this point, not knowing what to do, and thinking that I did not have time to explore the Brooks Woodland Preserve, I decided to check out the Harvard Forest, which is supposed to have great views from the top of Prospect Hill, located across the town border in Phillipston. Unfortunately, I had not done my homework enough and did not know the GPS coordinates of the hill. From the maps provided online, it seemed that Lincoln Road in Phillipston would lead to the path to take me to the top, so I went there and parked my car at the end before the terrain got tough for my car again, then walked down the path  all the way, but ended up nowhere. By now, it was getting dark, so I decided to abandon my search. I was to later find out that the path is actually at the end of Ward Hill Road, leading to Prospect Hill Road, way north of Lincoln Road.

Although the sun was starting to set, there was still some time, so I decided to check out the town of Phillipston. There was nothing much of note here though in terms of interesting buildings, and the town common area on Baldwinville Road and Petersham Road was not very impressive either. Pictures follow.



Phillipston Congregational Church,

62 The Common



Phillipston Town Hall,
50 The Common



War Memorial, Town Common

With that, I had a Christmas party to go to that night, so I called it a day for hiking. Tomorrow, I will attempt to scale Prospect Hill again.