Pierce Reservoir

West of town

  A project long planned by Massachusetts officials and finally realized in 1934 as one of President Roosevelt’s “New Deal” work programs, Pierce Reservoir was created by flooding a wide, shallow valley west of town, completely inundating the village once known as Clark’s Corners and surrounding countryside. The reservoir is named after the Pierce homestead, a large tract of farmland once owned for generations by a family of that name, now a part of the reservoir’s spread. Pierce Reservoir supplies New Jerusalem with its drinking and supply water.   Although regular testing of the reservoir water shows nothing abnormal, longtime locals often attribute the city’s high rate of birth defects on the drinking water supply. Occasionally the water exhibits odd chromatic qualities which quickly dissipate under scrutiny, or are attributed to atmospheric effects around the reservoir.   Locals aware of their city’s history point to a meteorite crash in 1882 that perhaps tainted the area before it was flooded. Very few locals remember the dire fate suffered by the Forester family soon after the unworldly visitor slammed into their acreage; their story can be unearthed by persistent prowling through old issues of local papers or perhaps the scientific archives at M.U.’s Wantage Library.   The reservoir is bordered to the north by Missituk University’s athletic facilities, and its other boundaries are girded by growing commercial concerns. A swath of green grass, trees, and a jogging path encloses the reservoir. No watersports or swimming are allowed in the reservoir, though police on occasion respond to reports of bathers or the occasional water skier brazenly transgressing posted prohibitions.