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

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

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

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

by James Lomuscio

Paperback(New edition)

$29.95 
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Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781684582969
Publisher: Brandeis University Press
Publication date: 09/12/2025
Edition description: New edition
Pages: 150
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

James Lomuscio has written for Gannett newspapers, the New York Times, the Connecticut Post, Stamford Advocate and has served as the editor of the Westport News, Westport Magazine, and the associate editor of WestportNow.com. He is the author of the textbook Writing with Your Head and Your Heart: Balancing Logic and Emotion to Create Powerful Nonfiction and the book Imagination Revisited, Imagination Regained. He is an adjunct professor of journalism and composition at Norwalk Community College and has taught at Western Connecticut State University and Sacred Heart University.

Table of Contents

Foreword by James Prosek
Ackowledgements
Introduction
1. Piercing the Surface
2. A Personal Connection
3. A Valley Blooms
4. A Lens on the Past
5. A Water Company RIses
6. Equity Versus Inequity
7. The Fighters
8. Road Wars and Water Rights
9. The Defeat
10. The Damned
11. At Peace at the Reservoir
12. Another Valley, Another Time
13. Casting About
14. Into the Woods, Again
15. Celebrity Status
16. Letters to the Editor
17. Artful Strategies
18. Friends in High Places
Epilogue
Works Cited and Consulted
Index

What People are Saying About This

Scott Bullock

"U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once noted that property does not have rights. People have rights. James J. Lomuscio captures in poignant and compelling terms a Connecticut community's attachment to their homes, property, and way of life, and their valiant effort to protect their rights in pre-World War II America. And as governments and private companies continue today to abuse eminent domain, The Village of the Dammed is still very timely, serving as a cautionary tale of what can happen when power is abused in the name of progress."
Scott Bullock, Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice, Washington, DC and lead counsel in Kelo v. City of New London

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