Woodville Dam Portage

41° 27.578' N    71° 43.144' W   See this location in: Google Maps   Map Server   Acme Maps

This site is a portage. This typically means there either is no road access to this location or that the site is not recommended as a launching site for some other reason. The portage may be around a dam, whitewater, or some other obstruction.

Description & Overview:

While this site can be reached via Woodville Road, the very limited parking options here mean this is better treated as a portage rather than a take-out or put-in. To portage around the Woodville Dam here, take out on river right above the dam where there is a small path that leads up to the road. Carry across the bridge using the sidewalk on the left. The best put it is about 100 feet beyond the end of the bridge.

Below Woodville the river is slow and lazy, with deep water. In 1/2 mile you will come to a fork. Stay left to continue down river or turn right and then stay straight to take an interesting side trip up into the sluiceway for an old mill.

Below here the river flows through woods and wetlands for another 1-1/4 miles and then opens out into Alton Pond, formed by the Alton Dam. It is a 3/4 mile paddle down the pond to the take out and portage at the south end of the pond.

(This description was adapted in part from The Wood-Pawcatuck River Guide, which is highly recommended for paddling on the Wood-Pawcatuck river system.)

This site provides access to the following water bodies in the Pawcatuck River watershed: Wood River.

Location:

Town: Hopkinton

Nearest Town Center: Woodville

Access & Waters:

Water 'Features' At Site: dam, flatwater/slow moving river

Note: Because one boat launch can access, say, both a lake and a river or both the upstream and downstream portions of a river, not all paddling trips at a given site will necessarily encounter all of the features listed.

Type of Access: Portage

Shoreline: The take out is dirt and earth.

Float/Dock: no

Portage Length: 450 feet

Parking:

Parking: no

Nearby Amenities:

Public Restrooms: No

Sources for More Information:

AMC River Guide: 4th Edition, page 138

AMC Quiet Water Canoe Guide: 2nd Edition, page 204

Other Guidebooks: Paddle 24 in "Paddling Connecticut and Rhode Island"

Website: How to order the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association's River Guide

Website: USGS River Gauge on the Wood River below Hope Valley Dam

Photographs:

The Take Out

Photography by: Ed Magilton

Date of Photograph: October 21, 2018

The take-out on river right above the dam.

The Dam

Photography by: Ed Magilton

Date of Photograph: October 21, 2018

A view of the dam from the bridge. The take-out is on the left in this image. See the close-up view below for a clearer view of the take-out

The Take Out

Photography by: Ed Magilton

Date of Photograph: October 21, 2018

The take-out above the dam is in the center of this image.

The Dam

Photography by: Ed Magilton

Date of Photograph: October 21, 2018

Lovely fall colors around the dam. Thank you Ed Magilton for sending us these helpful and pretty photographs.

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