The waterbury reservoir is an old almost historical spot in waterbury that has its roots seeded in the towns prosperity. There once was a thriving community of farms and houses that lived not far from where the current dam is on the outskirts of Waterbury. I know several people that are familiar with this area and have pointed out several spots where houses were and some that still stand.

The Waterbury mill village, started in the late 1700s when, Joseph Ricker first settled there in the 1800s and began converting the steep terrain into farmable land.The town’s population slowly grew, mainly consisting of farmers and families. There were several saw mills that were running through the village used the waterways to there advantage pushing logs downstream. The steep terrain combined with rocky and poor quality soils forced many families to leave the village in search of better conditions. In the early 1900s there were few people left in the little river settlement and only one saw mill left, but by 1922 all the people were finally driven out due to annual floods.