The Brightside and Ingleside of Holyoke walking tour booklet is available from me. They cost $8 for a black-and-white stapled copy. Each additional copy after that is $5 more when shipped together. For a color copy, the cost is $13 and each additional copy in color is $10.
Email me from my contact page for details. The booklets that you order will be mailed to you via USPS so I need a physical address. Other booklets are available at the BOOKLET page. You can follow this tour at LINK.
Booklets in the Spanish language are available for a self-guided tour of the Holyoke Canal System. They cost $8 for a black-and-white stapled copy. Each additional copy after that is $5 more when shipped together. For a color copy, the cost is $13 and each additional copy in color is $10.
Email me from my contact page for details. The booklets that you order will be mailed to you via USPS so I need a physical address. Other booklets are available at the BOOKLET page.
LINK to the tour.
The Reliance and Central Fire Stations of Holyoke were and are the headquarters of the Holyoke fire department.
Reliance Station (number 2) housed Engine Company 1 and Hook and Ladder Company 1 and had from at least 1899 to 1914 the following:
Central Fire Station (number 1)
my book reviews
The Bynan Conservation Area is a very large conservation area in the southwest corner of town. The only natural lakes of South Hadley are all in this area.
| number | name | location | size (yards) | depth (feet) | comments |
| 1 | Bynan Pond | near SH dump | 250 | 10 | |
| 2 | Britton Pond | end of Lyman Terrace | 100 | 2 | |
| 3 | end of Glen Drive | 200 | 2 | (seasonal) | |
| 4 | southeast of Britton Pond and Pond 3 | 80 | 3 | ||
| 5 | 200 | 4 | |||
| 6 | 120 | ||||
| 7 | Taylor Pond | under town dump | 300 | covered up in the 1950s |
The Stony Brook cuts through the Mount Holyoke College campus and is dammed very often. It also runs into Granby a bit and there it is called Muddy Brook. There is also the Stony Brook Tributary along Kendrick Street. It once had a dam – the Kendrick Street Dam which held back the Kendrick Street Reservoir – but it is not there any more.
| code | name | location | served | type | year |
| 1a | Upper Pond Dam | Upper Pond | Smith’s Paper Mill | medium concrete | |
| 1b | Willits Hallowell Dam | Willits Hallowell Pond | small concrete | ||
| 1c | Lower Pond Dam | Lower Pond | medium concrete | ||
| 1d | Mill Dam | Mill Pond | small concrete | ||
| 1e | Barrett’s Butting Mill Dam | Barrett’s Butting Mill Reservoir |
The Newton Smith Brook has two dams – the Stevens Dam and the Newton Dam. These form the Stevens Reservoir and the Newton Reservoir. The Stevens Reservoir is farther into the woods. It was a medium earthen dam that served the Stevens Paper Mill along the river. It is a breached dam. The Newton Reservoir along the highway is a medium sized earthen dam.
The Leaping Well Brook has 4 dams and hence 4 reservoirs – the Leaping Well Dam and the three Pond Street Dams. The Leaping Well Dam backs up the Leaping Well Reservoir. This dam is a large earthen dam. The three Pond Street Dams are numbered in sequence as the water flows as number 1 to number 3. These are three small concrete dams.
The Buttery Brook runs within South Hadley with many of its own tributaries. It is the most obvious brook in town but neither its longest nor most used. Buttery Brook Park is explain HERE.
| dam | reservoir | types | year | location |
| Titus Pond Dam | Titus Pond | small earthen dam | on tiny tributary of brook | |
| Hillcrest Dam | Hillcrest Pond | small concrete and large earthen dams | on Buttery Brook Tributary | |
| Smith Dam | Smith Reservoir | on brook | ||
| Buttery Brook Park Dam 1 | Buttery Brook Park Reservoir 1 | medium concrete dam | on Buttery Brook Tributary | |
| Buttery Brook Park Dam 2 | Buttery Brook Park Reservoir 2 | (GONE) | on Buttery Brook Tributary | |
| Granby Road Upramp Dam | Granby Road Reservoir | concrete and earthen (GONE) | on Buttery Brook Tributary |
