MONTAGUE CENTER — Watershed restaurant will close its doors on Dec. 2, having served as a hub for fine dining for nearly two years.

“We had an absolute blast,” said James Fitzgerald, who co-owns the restaurant alongside his partner Melissa Stetson. “At times, it was the most fun we ever had in our lives.”

The duo announced the decision on Facebook on Monday, thanking the community for helping Watershed become “one of the most popular eating destinations in our area.”

Fitzgerald said closure of the restaurant is necessary due to him taking up increased responsibility in roles with Greenfield Community College and the Deerfield Police Department, where he recently transitioned from part-time to full-time work as a patrol officer. Neither he nor Stetson wanted the restaurant to be operated by just one owner, he said, noting that their decision to close became easier as time went on.

“We let it marinate for a couple months and the more we talked about it, the more I got involved with things other than the restaurant,” he explained. “It’s bittersweet, but quite honestly, we both feel it is the right decision and there are no regrets.”

Watershed’s opening in February 2022 was the first time a new restaurant has debuted in the space next to The Montague Bookmill since 2014, when The Alvah Stone began its eight-year tenure. The eatery switched hands upon a proposal from Fitzgerald and Stetson that Howard Wein, owner of The Alvah Stone, said came at the “right time.”

“We did exactly what we wanted to do,” Fitzgerald said of their time running the eatery. “We hope we served the community well and we hope we’ll be remembered as owners and as a business that tried to do well by the community.”

Fitzgerald said he doesn’t know what may come of the space, nor is he certain what the future holds for him or Stetson. He said opening a restaurant had been one of Stetson’s lifelong dreams and that she “absolutely knocked it out of the park” as a co-owner.

“I never say never to anything,” Fitzgerald said of potentially operating a restaurant again in the future. “This is something Melissa’s always wanted to do, and quite honestly, if things are going in a certain direction, who knows?”

Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-930-4231 or jmendoza@recorder.com.