Holyoke Heritage State Park

July 20, 2019 Sunny

Holyoke Heritage State Park is in the center of town along a canal. The grounds consist of a Visitor’s Center, a Merry-Go-Round, a Children’s Museum, a Volleyball Hall of Fame, as well as a canal walk.

The Visitor’s Center has exhibits about the history of Holyoke, including a replica of the immigration stations on Ellis Island, and details on industrial mills in Holyoke. Holyoke was a center of paper making in the 1800s. The Visitor’s Center is pretty small.

Right in front of the Visitor’s Center, inside this building below, was the Merry-go-Round.

Outside the Visitor’s Center there was a splash pad, and just beyond that was the canal.

On both banks of the canal stood historic mill buildings. Unfortunately, most of the mill buildings on the side of the Visitor’s Center were burned down, so the City put in a playground and an old flywheel that was used to power the steam engines in the mills.

On the other bank the buildings were decrepit. Many were empty and run down.

The Children’s Museum and the Volleyball Hall of Fame are nearby, but we didn’t have time to visit them.

The carousel was the highlight. The canal walk was disappointing, with some old mills gone and now just grassy lots.
Not much to see at the visitor’s center, and outside along the canal the buildings were run down.
The carousel was fun. but overall it was a bit boring.
I like the carousel. The wheel looks cool.