Quiet Corner Whispers: Eminent domain has long rankled property owners
“In the Quiet Corner, there have been numerous eminent domain projects that have changed lives and the landscape forever. Some, as in my family’s case, involved the building of a highway (state Route 52), while others often were for flood control.
In Thompson after the 1955 flood, the U. S. Corps of Engineers dammed the Quinebaug River to create 200-acre West Thompson Lake, a great recreational resource for the region. But the village of West Thompson was sacrificed.
Alice Ramsdell refused to sell her farm on the western side of the lake and backed her refusal with a gun, but eventually, the Corps and Ramsdell came to an understanding that allowed her to remain in her home until her death in 1995.
Circa 1950, the Corps dammed the Natchaug River in Mansfield, flooding Turkey Meadows and creating the 500-acre lake that’s now part of Mansfield Hollow State Park. Local citizens worked diligently to keep the taking area as small as possible.”
Hoskin, Marge. The Bulletin 25 August 2014.