- Tour booklets of this reservoir can be found HERE.
- Reservoirs of Holyoke
- Private GROUP TOUR (COSTS) can be either one, two, or three hours long for this Whiting Street Reservoir walking tour. Also a one hour indoor presentation can be given.
- The reservoir is NOT handicap accessible and by Massachusetts laws does not have to be. Any attempt to open the land up more will allow motorcycles to trespass.
- A self-tour is available for anyone using the maps and text seen below. – LOCATION
Each stop can be extended into a bonus tour since the trails lead onto more trails and sites. One such important trail map is that of the Mount Tom Reservation.
| stop | name | notes | LINK |
| 1 | Reservoir’s Old Gate | LINK | |
| 2 | Holyoke Street Railway and the Mountain Park Entrance | LINK | |
| 3 | Mountain Park Entrance Crossroads | LINK | |
| 4 | Intake Reservoir and its Dam | LINK | |
| 5 | Hastings Brook and the Sluiceways | LINK | |
| 6 | Fountain | LINK | |
| 7 | Mountain Park Trail | LINK | |
| 8 | Mountain Park and its Trolley Extension | LINK | |
| 9 | Mount Tom and the Mountain Brook | LINK | |
| 10 | Whiting Street Reservoir Road to Top of the Mountain | LINK | |
| 11 | Sheldon Avenue | LINK | |
| 12 | Very Old Road to Easthampton Street | LINK | |
| 13 | Albert Steiger Road | LINK | |
| 14 | Entrance to the old Mount Tom Golf Course | LINK | |
| 15 | Spillway | LINK | |
| 16 | Control House | LINK | |
| 17 | The Reservoir and the Dam | LINK | |
| LINK |
Whiting Street Reservoir was made from the watershed of Roaring Brook in 1888. It is made of a sandstone dam with a dirt berm. The entire area is full of history but the greatest view is that of being in the shadow of the Mount Tom Range. The reservoir system of Holyoke is vast. Read about the WHOLE system.
This was the first dam-based reservoir of Holyoke but its third dedicated source of water. The water of the reservoir served as a drinking source for Holyokers until into the early 1990s. Now it is just a backup source. Below is my historical and geographical tour points. Use the maps.
A group has been formed by the city of Holyoke to examine the future uses of this reservoir area. See their video presentations at YOUTUBE.
The packed dirt road that surrounds the reservoir was put in in 1897 both to help maintenance workers and to allow visitors to visit the many sites around the reservoir. In 1912 it was widen to allow for vehicles to pass. It has always been well maintained by the HWW. Whenever there has been a problem the next day the situation was fixed. Large improvements were always looked into the done. In 1938, there was a resurfacing of the road with trap rock dust.
