Slatersville Reservoir

Slatersville Dam

Quick Facts

Location:

Slatersville, RI

Amenities

3 listed

Benches/Seating, Picnic Table, Scenic View/Photo Spot

One of the best perspective of the reservoirs is in the small park along the river behind the North Smithfield Public Library. Follow the small path at the post office end of the parking lot towards the river. From here you can see two waterfalls (dams). The larger dam, known as the Middle Dam, was built in 1849. It is 300 feet long, and creates a twenty foot drop. Behind the dam is the 170 acre Lower Slatersville Reservoir. The smaller dam was built later to increase the available water power. It was the natural drop in the river at this location which first attracted the Slater brothers to build their new mill village here. Dams and reservoirs were important parts of mill villages. These backed up and stored water. This allowed the water to be diverted through a sluice gate like the one you can see here today. This gate controlled the amount of water flowing into the raceway that powered the Slatersville Mill.