Lost Villages Scenic Byway
Lost Villages Scenic Byway is a State Scenic Byway in Massachusetts. Within Massachusetts it covers roughly 35 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Lost Villages Scenic Byway with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
The Lost Villages Scenic Byway follows Route 122 for 40 miles of backroads north of the Quabbin Reservoir, linking Orange and Paxton. Along the way it passes through the small towns of New Salem, Petersham, Barre, Oakham, and Rutland. The byway takes its name from communities that were abandoned or displaced when the Quabbin Reservoir and its aqueduct system were built in the 1930s to supply Boston's water, submerging the former town of Dana along with Coldbrook Springs, White Valley Village, and numerous old farm settlements whose foundations and stone walls can still be found by those who look. The drive passes historic town centers, working farms, and quiet rivers through some of central Massachusetts's least-developed countryside, with ample opportunity for hiking, biking, horseback riding, fishing, and cross-country skiing. It's a genuinely quiet alternative to the state's better-known Berkshires byways, built around a landscape defined as much by what's no longer there as by what remains.
- 40 miles on Route 122, Orange to Paxton
- Named for towns lost to the Quabbin Reservoir
- Former Town of Dana, submerged in the 1930s
- Passes New Salem, Petersham, Barre & Rutland
- North of the Quabbin Reservoir
- Quiet, undeveloped central Massachusetts backroads
Plan a drive on Lost Villages Scenic Byway →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Lost Villages Scenic Byway
No campgrounds are listed close to Lost Villages Scenic Byway yet, but there are rooms near the route.
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