Waterfall Wednesday: Deckertown Falls

Montour Falls, New York is home of many hidden waterfalls. Today’s waterfall is one that I originally found while going for a random drive. It can be found tucked in to the end of a dead end street in a little neighborhood. A small green sign labelled Deckertown Falls at the intersection of L’Hommedieu Street and Catlin Street is the only indication that something so beautiful is hiding there.

Other major waterfalls nearby include Eagle Cliff Falls in Havana Glen just down the road, Aunt Sarah’s Falls right along Route 14, and Shequaga Falls at the end of Main Street downtown. There’s also Watkins Glen State Park and Twin Falls, as well as several smaller falls minutes away in Watkins Glen. The area really is gorges.

Deckertown Falls is a combination of three different waterfalls. There was a little variation in the heights of the waterfalls so these measurements are a rough approximation. The upper falls is about 36 feet high, the middle is a slide that is 8 feet high and has a 20 foot crest, and the lower falls is 12 foot high with a six foot crest. Because of the way that the water twists on Lower Falls, it appears to have a rooster tail effect.

The name Deckertown Falls has its roots in the 1800s milling industry of the area. One of the first settlers of the area was Burton Decker. He and his descendants owned a collection of gristmills along the creek and the area was known as Deckertown.

Viewing the waterfall takes only a short walk from the parking area (maybe 50 feet). For the best view go the lower path to the creek bed. I heard that you can cross lower down along the creek to get a closer view to the falls from the opposite side, but I haven’t tried this myself yet.

This was one of the more natural trails that I came across during my 50 New York Waterfalls project. There’s not a strong established path and getting down towards the waterfall takes some careful footing. The day I visited it had rained the night before and it was a bit muddy and slippery.

I found out there may be four additional waterfalls further up along Catlin Mill Creek east of the Route 224 overpass however the trail is difficult and dangerous.

Painting Deckertown Falls

Deckertown Falls was fun to paint with the multiple waterfalls and a natural creek bed of rocks. One of my favorite parts was painting the log that had fallen across the creek. This painting always gives me a warm feeling with the colors that I used to create it and reminds me of the warm summer day that I first discovered it.