9:31 am - This is the Blackwater Dam in Webster, New Hampshire, USA. It holds back the Blackwater River, which flows into the Contoocook River, which in turn flows into the Merrimack River that empties out into the Atlantic Ocean on the border of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
I've visited this dam many times. I've sledded down the steep slope in the winter and rolled down the grass in the summer (being careful to stop before hitting the boulders at the bottom.)
The dam rises to an elevation of 566 feet.The water rose to within 2 feet of this height in 1987, nearly hitting its capacity of 15 million gallons in the Blackwater Reservoir.
The dam was built in 1941 by the US Army Corps of Engineers in response to the floods of the late 1930s. Building the dam would have put the center of the town in the reservoir, so several buildings including the old meeting house were moved or torn down and rebuilt on higher ground. Today a system of dams including this one protects the cities of Concord, Manchester and Nashua from flooding and has prevented millions of dollars in damages.
Posted by jeff at September 13, 2004 09:31 AM