Lake Quannapowitt

Lake Quannapowitt is named for James Quonopohit, a member of the Pawtucket tribe of Nipmuc Indians and signer of the 1686 deed selling land to European colonists. A town called Redding (now Wakefield) developed on the shore of the lake that provided colonists with a bounty of fish, including salmon and alewives, until mills stopped their passage upstream. The town remained rural until the Boston and Maine Railroad arrived in 1845. Overnight, new markets became accessible, and Lake Quannapow...