Waterfall Wednesday: Ludlowville Falls

Today’s featured waterfall is Ludlowville Falls. Ludlowville Falls is found in the town of Lansing northeast of Ithaca, New York. Salmon Creek flows through it and the creek is a large tributary to nearby Cayuga Lake (Ludlowville Falls is located to the east of Cayuga Lake).

The falls can be found in a small park in the village of Ludlowville, named for the Ludlow family who were one of the first settlers in the area. They built a gristmill at the site which was powered by the waterfall and also the first log tavern.

I was able to visit Ludlowville Falls in the middle of May when the trees were blooming. It was absolutely beautiful. The small park has a grassy area with a gazebo, playground, and a couple picnic tables. The creek and falls can be found at the far end of the park past a fence.

Ludlowville Falls is 35 feet high and drops over a four foot thick capstone of Tully Limestone (similar to Carpenter Falls, Cowshed Falls, and Tinker Falls). The shale below the falls has gradually eroded over the years creating a cave and deep plunge pool. What I found really neat was the color of the water underneath the falls – it’s the most beautiful teal and green color. I read that this is something that commonly happens when waterways cut through limestone.

In the video you can see a couple of people fishing in the creek below the falls. They look so tiny compared to the falls! There’s a path that goes down along the creek that’s only about a tenth of a mile. Next time I visit I’ll have to take that trail to see the waterfall from a new perspective.

Painting Ludlowville Falls

I really enjoyed painting Ludlowville Falls and I would consider it one of my favorites from my recent project of 50 New York Waterfalls. I loved how being there you could just feel springtime blooming around the falls and had a lot of fun capturing that feeling in this painting.

Ludlowville Falls was also the second waterfall I painted for the project, so I was still trying to figure out how to paint rocks and playing with the colors in the water to make them look just right. There are a whole lot of colors that go into painting the water, not just the bright blues or whites that you might think of. The surface of the water reflects the colors and objects around it (acting kind of like a mirror). Which is why I found the subject of waterfalls challenging but also really interesting to paint.