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| Heading out from the boat ramp |
I needed to stay local this weekend, but wanted to paddle something different. I was working on the July issue of the Paddler, and saw that Hopedale Pond was on the schedule for the Blackstone Valley Paddle Club. I knew this was an historic site, so I decided to check it out.
Like Woonsocket, Hopedale was settled in the middle of the 17th century and remained a small farming and milling community until the middle of the 19th century. In 1842, Adin Ballou established a commune in the village, which ended in bankruptcy in 1854. The property was then purchased by the Draper brothers, who began manufacturing textile looms. The Draper Corporation would eventually become one of the largest textile machinery makers in the country.
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| Beaver dam at the top of the pond |
As I drove into Hopedale I was surprised to see a huge open space where the massive Draper Mill had once stood. After being vacant for 40-years, it was demolished in 2020. The impact of the company can still be seen around town, though, in the buildings that were donated by its owners and in the Hopedale Pond and Parklands.
The Hopedale Pond was the power source for the village’s original manufacturing operations. It sits on the Mill River, which flows south for 17-miles from North Pond in Hopkinton, though Upton, Milford, Hopedale, Mendon, and Blackstone, to Woonsocket where it flows into the Blackstone River.
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| Rustic Bridge |
The Hopedale Parklands that surround the pond were purchased by the town in 1899. In 1900, the town hired landscape architect Warren H. Manning to design the park, which included walking trails through natural woodlands with a rustic stone bridge and picnic areas. In 2014, Mark Andolina, Jr., a Boy Scout from Hopedale Troop 1, created a trail map and installed new markers along the walking trails.
I put-in at the boat ramp at the old bathhouse on Hopedale Street and headed north into the pond. The pond seemed low, but I was able to make it to the top with a minimum of scraping by staying in the main channel. I paddled under the old stone bridge and found a huge beaver dam just up stream. Perhaps this is the reason for the low water, or maybe they are just letting out more water from the dam. I'd like to come back and check out the walking trails sometime.
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| Hopedale Parklands Trail Map |
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