Sudbury Closes Ford's Folly Dam Due To Danger

SUDBURY, MA — Steer clear of Ford's Folly, or you could be history's next fool.

The Sudbury Conservation Commission has closed the trail that crosses Henry Ford's useless dam in the woods south of the Boston Post Road. A fence atop the century-old dam has failed, creating a serious safety hazard.

The approximately 30-foot high dam is secluded near a small stream in the woods between Brimstone Lane and Bigelow Drive. The abandoned dam is the highlight of the one-mile loop trail through that portion of forest.

Henry Ford came to Sudbury in the 1920s with plans to build a car factory here. He also purchased the Wayside Inn and many acres around it intending to build a kind of Colonial theme park. He built the dam in an attempt to create a reservoir for the inn, and used Colonial-era techniques, including oxen and stones mined from the area, according to Atlas Obscura.

But soon after it was complete, the dam was found to be built on "incompetent" rock, which means the it likely would've collapsed under the strain of a reservoir.

The Sudbury Conservation Commission has blocked off the crossing over the dam, but the trail to the structure at the Tippling Rock Trailhead along Brimstone Lane is still open.