Quashnet River

The Quashnet River, also known as Quoshnet River or Moonakis River, is a 5.1-mile-long (8.2 km)^[1] estuary in Falmouth, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. Its area is about 1-square-mile (2.6 km²).

The river is connected by ditch to John's Pond in Mashpee, just north of today's Route 28. It is fed by groundwater and flows south, gaining water as it goes, into Waquoit Bay which then flows into Nantucket Sound. During colonial times it was known for its abundant brook trout but was dammed in the mid-19th century for water power. After the mills burned and the dam was breached, the valley was converted to cranberry cultivation in the early 20th century. Cranberry production stopped in the 1950s, and the cranberry bogs were abandoned. The land was purchased by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts beginning in the late 1950s, and Trout Unlimited and other organizations began to restore the river to trout-quality in the 1970s.

Today the river is an important migratory fish run for alewife and salter brook trout, home to herring and eels, and is Waquoit Bay's largest source of fresh water. Additional portions of its watershed were purchased through the years by various entities. The area is now a wildlife management and conservation preserve managed by the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Quashnet River

References

^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed April 1, 2011

Environmental Protection Agency
Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
Trout Unlimited

Rivers of Massachusetts by drainage system

Atlantic Ocean

Buzzards Bay	Acushnet River Agawam River Back River Copicut River Crooked River Mattapoisett River Nasketucket River Paskamanset River Pocasset River Sippican River Slocums River Wankinco River Westport River Weweantic River
Nantucket Sound	Bass River Bumps River Childs River Coonamesset River Mashpee River Mitchell River Oyster Pond River Popponesset Creek Quashnet River Santuit River
Others	Tiasquam River

Gulf of Maine

Cape Cod Bay	Bluefish River Eel River Herring River Jones River Little Pamet River Pamet River Town Brook
Massachusetts Bay	Aberjona River Alewife Brook Canton River Charles River Chelsea Creek Cochato River Fore River Fresh River Indian Head River Malden River Millers River Monatiquot River Muddy River Mystic River Neponset River North River Saugus River Stony Brook (Boston) Stony Brook (Waltham) Stop River Weir River Weymouth Back River
Merrimack River Watershed	Artichoke River Assabet River Back River Beaver Brook Cochichewick River Concord River Little River Merrimack River Nashua River Nissitissit River North Nashua River Phillips Brook Powwow River Quinapoxet River Salmon Brook Shawsheen River Souhegan River South Branch Souhegan River South Nashua River Spicket River Squannacook River Stillwater River Sudbury River Trout Brook Vine Brook Whitman River
Others	Annisquam River Blackwater River Eagle Hill River Egypt River Ipswich River Jericho Creek Roger Island River Rowley River Skug River

Long Island Sound

Connecticut River Watershed	Burnshirt River Chapel Brook Chicopee River Connecticut River Cranberry River Deerfield River East Brookfield River Farmington River Fall River Five Mile River Green River Hubbard River Manhan River Mill River (Northampton) Mill River (Springfield) Millers River Mirey Brook North Branch Millers River North Branch Westfield River North River Otter River Quaboag River Scantic River Seven Mile River Tarbell Brook Ware River Westfield River
Housatonic River Watershed	Housatonic River Konkapot River Schenob Brook Umpachene River
Thames River Watershed	French River Quinebaug River

Narragansett Bay

Mount Hope Bay (Taunton River Watershed)	Assonet River Canoe River Cedar Swamp River Cocasset River Cotley River Forge River Hockomock River Matfield River Mill River Nemasket River Poor Meadow Brook Quequechan River Rumford River Salisbury Plain River Satucket River Segreganset River Shumatuscacant River Snake River Taunton River Three Mile River Town River Wading River Winnetuxet River
Providence River Watershed	Abbott Run Blackstone River Bungay River Chockalog River Mill River Mumford River Peters River Quinsigamond River Sevenmile River Tannery River Ten Mile River West River Wilde River
Others	Barrington River Cole River Coles Brook Kickamuit River Lees River Palmer River Runnins River

Upper New York Bay

Hudson River Watershed	Hoosic River Kinderhook Creek

v t e Coastal waterbodies of Massachusetts
Bays	Buzzards Bay Cape Cod Bay Dorchester Bay Duxbury Bay Hingham Bay Massachusetts Bay Mount Hope Bay Nahant Bay Narragansett Bay Plymouth Bay Popponesset Bay Quincy Bay Waquoit Bay
Channels	Broad Sound North Entrance Channel Canapitsit Channel Fort Point Channel Hypocrite Channel Salem Channel South Channel
Coves	Cat Cove Juniper Cove Orleans Cove Warren Cove
Harbors	Barnstable Harbor Boston Harbor East Harbor Hyannis Harbor Marblehead Harbor Plymouth Harbor Port of New Bedford Provincetown Harbor Rock Harbor Salem Harbor
River mouths	Annisquam River Back River Blackwater River Bass River Eagle Hill River Egypt River Fore River Ipswich River Jericho Creek Merrimack River Mitchell River Oyster Pond River Quashnet River Roger Island River Rowley River Skug River Tiasquam River Weir River
Sounds	Broad Sound Nantucket Sound Vineyard Sound
Straits	Quick's Hole Robinson's Hole Woods Hole