Echo Bridge Aqueduct - Needham, MA
Posted by: 
NorStar
N 42° 18.895 W 071° 13.603
19T E 316496 N 4687143
Echo Bridge, a former aqueduct for the Boston metropolitan area, is a series of beautiful stone arches, one of which give the bridge its name.
Waymark Code: WM50KH
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 10/21/2008
Views: 9
Echo Bridge is an important and a beautiful grey stone arch bridge set behind an old mill in the Hemlock Gorge section of the Charles River Reservation.
If you look from Elliott Street as you cross the Charles River, you can catch a glimpse of this bridge downstream. On the Needham side, there is a small parking lot by the bridge. A kiosk with a map show the paths in the park. There are several locations where you can see a profile view of the bridge. However, the paths lead to the main path to the walkway over the bridge, where you get a great glimpse of the gorge it is set in.
In 1877, Echo Bridge built by Boston Water Works as the second largest masonry arch in the U. S. at the time. The bridge carried the Sudbury Aqueduct, one of three main water mains to provide drinking water to the city. The Sudbury Aqueduct carried water from the Sudbury Reservoirs, mostly in Framingham. Today, recent water works projects have obsoleted these aqueducts. The bridge has undergone rennovation work, has been opened to the public for people to cross.
One feature that has been restored in 2004 is a platform on the Newton side for people to walk down and view the Charles River. From this point, they can choose to talk or yell and hear their voice rebounded from the arch wall. This give the structure its name, Echo Bridge. It is said that a voice can be heard repeated up to 15 times, and a shot from a gun up to 25 times (though I SOOOOO don't recommend you try that).
Specs:
Number of arches: 7
Width of arches: 38 ft (over a road), 37 ft, 37 ft, 37 ft, 37, 130 ft, 37 ft.
Length of bridge: 500 ft
Height of bridge: 51 ft (water surface to crown)
What type of traffic does this bridge support?: Water (only as a backup), Pedestrians
What kind of gap does this bridge cross?:
The Charles River
Date constructed: 1877
Is the bridge still in service for its original purpose?: Only as a backup
Name of road or trail the bridge services: Unnamed trail in Hemlock Gorge Reservation
Location:
Hemlock Gorge, Needham (Norfolk Co.)- Newton (Middlesex Co.), MA
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