Continued my paddling of former reservoirs this past week with a Wednesday visit to the 600-acre Whitehall Reservoir in Hopkinton, MA. Between 1896 to 1947 this reservoir was part of the Water Supply System of Metropolitan Boston. Whitehall Reservoir was created by the damming of Whitehall Brook, a Sudbury River tributary, which flooded three smaller ponds. When no longer needed for drinking water supply in 1947, Whitehall Reservoir and the land around it became a Massachusetts State Park operated by the Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation and Recreation. The map below is from the State Park's website shows Whitehall Reservoir as it is today...
The Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center has this 1794 Plan of Hopkinton drawn by Matthew Metcalf showing the waterbody as it looked way back then...
...when it was already dammed and providing water power for several small mills.
I launched from the lake's northernmost point and paddled its perimeter in a counter-clockwise direction. This brought me through a group of islands...
...some of which are considered to be floating islands...
... with clusters of spire-like trees...
After reaching the lake's southernmost point I headed up the east shoreline passing several coves...
This bee's nest was attached to a tree limb overhanging the water...
In the lake's northeast corner is the dam and outlet to Whitehall Brook...
The outlet structure...
According to
The Water Supply System of Metropolitan Boston 1845 - 1947 by the Metropolitan District Commission in 1985, prepared by Martha H. Bowers and Jane Carolan "...the Boston Water Board built a wood dam and short dike above the original dam. In the 1920s a low concrete and earth dam was built, along with a square brick and granite gatehouse."
The last leg of my paddle saw a bald eagle circling the lake's north end...
Trash encountered was mostly aluminum cans...
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