{"id":522,"slug":"dana-common-petersham-massachusetts","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Dana is the drowned — the 'Quabbin' that's the reservoir's name, the 'four towns' that's the drowned count. The 'disincorporated' is the erased — the '1938' that's the legal death, the 'cellar holes' that's the remains' form. The 'not flooded' is the spared — the 'above the line' that's the common's luck, the 'foundations' that's the town's bones.","The 'five churches' is the emptied — the 'Swift River Box' that's the mill's name, the 'moved or razed' that's the buildings' fate. The 'graves moved' is the displaced — the 'Quabbin Cemetery' that's the dead's new home, the 'eleven posts' that's the fence's remnant. Dana Common is the walked — the 'no cars' that's the access's rule, the 'marker' that's the memory's stone.","The file keeps Dana: the drowned town, the spared common, the emptied churches, and the walked foundations.","Dana Common is the archive's Massachusetts file — the town Boston drinks."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Dana Common is the archive's Massachusetts file — the sacrifice for two million glasses of water.","A common keeps its cellars — the file's suggestion being that Dana's hold is the spared: the 'above the line' that's the survival's geography, the 'foundations' that's the town's archaeology, and the 'marker' that's the apology's stone."]}],"name":"Dana Common","aliases":["Dana Center","Dana Common Historic and Archaeological District"],"type":"GHOST_TOWN","type_label":"Ghost Town","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","GHOST_TOWN"],"groups":["dark-history","ghost-towns"],"desc":"Unsubmerged archaeological landscape of a town removed for Quabbin Reservoir.","full_desc":"Dana Common is a ghost town in Petersham, Massachusetts, listed on the National Register of Historic Places (2013). Unsubmerged archaeological landscape of a town removed for Quabbin Reservoir. The archive files it under ghost towns and dark history. The dossier holds 1 documented fact — the record is history-forward, no paranormal claims on file. The site is open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"Petersham","county":null,"state":"Massachusetts","postal":null,"region":"Northeast","lat":42.491042,"lon":-72.187249,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"HISTORIC_SITE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":"Managed by Massachusetts DCR; public hiking access via Gate 40 off Route 32A.","ownership":null,"website":"https://www.nps.gov/places/dana-common.htm","phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":"National Register of Historic Places (2013)","current_use":null,"research_notes":"Do not label Dana Common submerged; source explicitly distinguishes it from flooded parts of former Dana. Visitor center address is not the common address.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":65,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":1,"paranormal_claim_provenance":null,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[],"history":[{"description":"Dana's buildings were removed for the Quabbin project and its final residents left in 1938. The common was above the reservoir waterline and never submerged. Dana Common's history is documented — boom, bust, and desertion all on record, the lore layered on top. This belongs to the verified spine of the entry, the layer everything else is measured against. Sources including 'Dana Common' carry the record. The entry's timeline holds it; the lore holds the rest.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Dana Common","url":"https://www.nps.gov/places/dana-common.htm","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}}],"legends":[],"entities":[],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Site is largely open-air; some buildings may be unsafe or on private land. Check local conditions before visiting; check nps.gov for current hours and alerts.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Dana Common","url":"https://www.nps.gov/places/dana-common.htm","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":0,"history":1,"legends":0,"entities":0,"sources":1}}