The Upper Falls Dam

This is the Upper Falls dam in Ipswich MA, right by the old Ipswich Mills that I talked about in my last blog! As shown in the second picture, the first dam was build in 1637. These mills and the surrounding buildings have been used for so many different things: blacksmith shops, sawmills, a soap manufacturer, etc. The top picture was taken from the footbridge that crosses the river- one of many that have been built over the years, as talked about in the following picture:

The dam is constructed of granite blocks, and was built originally to power the surrounding mills, but currently has no functional use. There was a fish ladder built in 1995 to help the fish swim up the dam, but does not allow all fish species to go up, especially the weaker species. I found this information from THIS website.