Four towns were completely flooded and their residents kicked out in order to create the Quabbin Reservoir, which supplies water to the Greater Boston area. Many residents of Western Massachusetts are still bitter about this, despite the fact that most of the people responsible for this are long dead. Still, I see where they're coming from.

On a related note... there is no part of Massachusetts that is four hours west of Boston, unless you're walking. Four hours of driving west from Boston puts you on the New York Turnpike, somewhere between Albany and Utica.