Cohoes Falls
89 Grace St, Waterford, NY
Cohoes, NY
A wide, thundering waterfall on the Mohawk River, a place of deep meaning to the Haudenosaunee, hidden in plain sight beside an old mill city.
Just above the point where the Mohawk River pours into the Hudson, the water tumbles over a broad rock ledge in a wide, powerful curtain known as Cohoes Falls. In spring or after heavy rain it is a genuinely thunderous cascade, one of the great waterfalls of the eastern states, yet it stands almost hidden beside the old brick mill city of Cohoes, north of Albany.
Long before any mill turned its wheels here, the falls held deep meaning for the Haudenosaunee, the Six Nations, and it figures in their traditions and history. Today overlook parks on both sides of the river let visitors take in the falling water, and the surrounding towns preserve the canal and mill heritage that the river's power once drove.
What Guests Love
- A genuinely powerful, wide waterfall in an unexpected urban setting
- The overlook park with clear views across to the falling water
- Its deep significance in Haudenosaunee history and tradition
- The surrounding canal and mill history of Cohoes and Waterford
Worth Knowing
- The falls run highest and most dramatic in spring and after heavy rain
- A dam upstream diverts water for power, so flow varies through the year
- The best views are from the overlook parks, not from the river's edge
- It pairs well with the nearby Waterford canal locks and the Cohoes mill district
Details
Cohoes, NY
Learn about Cohoes Falls
A place of meaning to the Haudenosaunee
Cohoes Falls lies in the homeland of the Mohawk, the eastern keepers of the door of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Six Nations. The falls are woven into Haudenosaunee tradition and history, associated in some accounts with the Great Law of Peace that united the nations, and they remain a place of significance to the Haudenosaunee, who are a present and living people, not a chapter of the past.
The name Cohoes itself descends from a Native word, and the falls were a landmark for travel and trade at the meeting of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers long before European settlement. Honoring that meaning is part of understanding the place, which is far more than a scenic cascade.
How the falls formed
The Mohawk River drops over a hard ledge of layered bedrock here, a broad shelf that spans the river and sends the water over in a wide sheet rather than a narrow plunge. The river has worn back at this ledge over the long ages since the last ice age, leaving the gorge below the falls.
The width of the falls is part of what makes them striking. Rather than a single tall drop, they spread across the whole river, so in high water the entire span becomes a roaring wall of white. The rock and the wide ledge give Cohoes Falls their distinctive broad, powerful character.
The mills, canals, and the harnessed river
The power of the falling water made Cohoes an industrial town in the nineteenth century, its mills, especially its great knitting and textile mills, driven by water drawn from above the falls through a system of canals and power channels. The city grew rich on that harnessed river, and its brick mill buildings still line the streets.
Because water is still diverted upstream for power and industry, the flow over the falls varies through the year, fullest in spring melt and after storms, thinner in dry spells. The nearby village of Waterford, where the Erie and Champlain canals met, preserves a remarkable set of canal locks that carry boats around this drop in the river.
Visiting and the seasons
The falls are best seen from the overlook parks built on both banks, which give clear, safe views across to the cascade. Spring is the prime time to visit, when snowmelt and rain send the greatest volume of water over the ledge and the falls are at their most thunderous.
Summer and early fall can see the flow drop with the season and the upstream diversions, though a rainy stretch brings the falls roaring back. Fall adds color to the gorge and the river valley, and winter can frame the falls in ice, a stark and beautiful sight from the overlooks.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Cohoes
Waterford
About 1 mile
A historic canal town where the Erie and Champlain canals met, with a dramatic flight of modern canal locks lifting boats around the falls.
Cohoes mill district
In town
The brick textile-mill buildings that grew up on the harnessed power of the river, some now restored to new uses.
Albany
About 10 miles south
The state capital, with the New York State Museum, the Empire State Plaza, and the Capitol's Million Dollar Staircase.
Peebles Island State Park
About 2 miles
A wooded island park at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson, with river trails and rapids views.