Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Whitehall Reservoir Respite

Yesterday, having both morning and afternoon jobs in the town of Hopkinton allowed a paddle to be sandwiched in between.  It was my first paddling of a very nice body of water that for some reason had never crossed my radar before.  The boat launch is at the north end of the reservoir near the village of Woodville and as boat launches go it's a good one.  Only thing missing is a porta-john.

Signage at the ramp spells out the rules...

In my time on the 592 acre reservoir I saw only 2 power boats and one other kayaker.  Given that Whitehall Reservoir was once considered a backup source of drinking water for greater Boston, its waters are sparkling clean, with islands and a shoreline that have seen little development. 
 
The view heading out from the launch...


Before Whitehall Brook was dammed to enlarge the original Whitehall Pond in the late 1800s the upper portion of the reservoir was a large swamp.  Small islets (such as below in foreground) may indicate the way the swamp looked before the dam...


The outlet to Whitehall Brook which ultimately flows into the Sudbury River near its headwaters...


On a website concerning the Old Connecticut Path I came across this link explaining the earlier pond's proximity to the historic path.  It also mentions the Native American name for the area being "Quansigamog". 


Whitehall Reservoir was found to be relatively pristine from a trash point of view...

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