Village of the Dammed: The Fight for Open Space and the Flooding of a Connecticut Town

The powerful afterlife of a town that was seized by eminent domain and flooded to create a reservoir, featuring new material which brings the story up to date.   In the early 1940s, the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company flooded Connecticut’s Saugatuck River Valley to create a reservoir that would meet the region’s growing population. Under twelve billion gallons of water lay Valley Forge, once a thriving iron and steel manufacturing town, which was seized by eminent domain to create the reservoir and dam. In Village of the Dammed, journalist James Lomuscio tells the story of the rise and fall of Valley Forge, drawing on Civil War-era photographs of the town and other sources to show what the town was like, document the futile battle to save it, and reveal the flooding’s life-altering repercussions. He also recounts a grassroots movement to prevent the development of nearby Trout Brook Valley in the 1990s, a heated fight with a different outcome. As the population of the American northeast continues to swell and spread, placing new demands on existing resources, communities are frequently confronted with forces and choices not unlike those faced by Valley Forge and Trout Brook Valley. Village of the Dammed reminds us to be ever vigilant in the protection of our irreplaceable environmental heritage.