Waterfall Wednesday: Bridge 7 Falls

This is the waterfall that almost wasn’t for my project of 50 New York Waterfalls. Bridge 7 Falls is located in Fillmore Glen State Park in Moravia, New York. I visited this waterfall on the same day that I visited Carpenter Falls, Bucktail Falls, Tinker Falls, Pratt’s Falls and Stockbridge Falls. Also in this park is Cowshed Falls which I visited the previous fall.

This was my first time hiking Fillmore Glen State Park. The gorge trail starts out with steep steps that go along to the top of Cowshed Falls. It’s always neat to see a waterfall from the top! The rest of the trail was relatively level from what I remember (I walked quite a few trails that particular day) and a little more than a mile each way. The trail has several bridges that cross over Dry Creek throughout the gorge trail.

Bridge 7 Falls, or as I learned yesterday from researching – Pinnacle Falls, is located just past the seventh bridge along the trail (they’re numbered). I’m still trying to figure out whether this is just Pinnacle Upper Falls or if the Lower Falls is the tiny falls towards the bottom. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of clarity about that on the interwebs. Since I feel like I’ve committed to calling the waterfall Bridge 7 Falls, I’m going to continue to go with it. Bridge 7 Falls (Pinnacle Upper Falls) is 14 feet tall.

My favorite thing about this waterfall and what interested me with painting it was the textures in the rocks. Those geometric shapes are so fascinating! I remember reading about what causes them at some point during the project, but I can’t seem to remember what it was at the moment.

The textures in the rest of the park were so neat as well. Here’s a few from along the path that I thought were cool.

Do you know how Fillmore Glen State Park got its name? The park was named after President Millard Fillmore, the 13th President of the United States and founding member of the University of Buffalo. The president grew up in a small log cabin that was located close to where the park is now. There’s a full scale replica of the log cabin on the park property. President Fillmore grew up in poverty on a 130 acre farm that his father leased. He later became a school teacher, law clerk, and studied to pass the bar exam. Fillmore was Vice President to President Zachary Taylor and became President when Taylor died in office in 1850. (Fun fact: President Fillmore didn’t have a Vice President during his entire term in office.) President Fillmore is known for being the last Whig Party president in office and the only to not to die or be expelled from the party while in office. He also is one of only five presidents in history not to receive his party’s nomination while seeking reelection.

Regardless of his current place looking back in presidential history, in 1925 the state acquired the land and established Fillmore Glen State Park. In the mid 30’s during the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps added beautiful stone walkways and bridges throughout this and many other parks throughout New York State.

Painting Bridge 7 Falls

Like I mentioned earlier, this waterfall painting almost didn’t happen. I had been debating between painting this waterfall and one in Buttermilk Falls State Park. I had finally decided to paint the waterfall in Buttermilk Falls as painting number 47 in this series. The last three paintings were already planned out. At the last minute I decided to include this waterfall as painting number 50 – the last painting in my 50 New York Waterfalls series. Since, it’s become one of my favorites.