ORIGIN - Neponset River (West Branch) - Foxborough, MA
Posted by: 
NorStar
N 42° 04.947 W 071° 15.134
19T E 313711 N 4661385
The origin of the west branch of the Neponset River is the dam outflow for the Neponset Reservoir, in a wooded area accessible by trails through pine and oak woods.
Waymark Code: WMFTTR
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 11/30/2012
Views: 1
In Foxborough, on the west side of the Neponset Reservoir, is an earth embankment dam that has an outlet to a marsh wetland that begins the Neponset River, sometimes also known as the West Branch of the Neponset River.
There are two ways you can approach the location - both involve walking nearly a mile round trip on varied but easy and scenic trails. The south approach, where we parked and started the walk, is at the corner of Chestnut Street and Neponset Ave, and is the south approach. There is a sandy pulloff right next to the railroad tracks - don't block the house driveway, though. The path is through a gate that has a sign next to it for the Foxborough Conservation Commission. At no point will you need to walk on the tracks. The north approaches are off the end of the Munroe Street and Messinger Road cul-de-sacs - don't park under the basketball hoop at Munroe Street.
The walk goes through a mixture of woods, open areas and wetlands. Most of the way, you have views of the Neponset Reservoir, which has several inlets and islands. There are branching paths, but they either end shortly at a viewing area or loop back to the main trail. The reservoir is never far away on one side, and the railroad track is on the other side (south approach), so you can't get lost. The one exception is a fire road to North Street - I'm not sure if there is parking at the end of this road, so assume that there isn't.
The dam is at a break in the woods. It is a straight earthen embankment dam lined with boulders about 30 ft wide and about 10 ft high. At the center is a gatehouse with a channel that runs below it. At the time, the gate appeared closed, but water was heard gurgling underneath, so either the gate wasn't fully closed or the gate leaks.
The Neponset River is a relatively small river that is one of the waterways flowing into Boston Harbor, along with the Charles River, the Mystic River, and the Weir River. The watershed basin is about 130 square miles. This stem runs roughly southwest to northeast from this location to the Boston Harbor at the great painted natural gas tank in Boston. It also flows by Great Blue Hill just south of Boston and flows through Fowl Meadow, which is a great wetland resource.
The Neponset Reservoir was originally a cedar swamp. In 1845 the Neponset Reservoir Company was formed, to develop water reserves for industrial use, and over the years, trees were cut down and the dam was built, which is the one there to this day.
Other Source:
Neponset River Watershed Association (NepRWA, Neponset River Watershed):
(
visit link)