Site #5 Kaaterskill Falls

2025 marks 200 years since Thomas Cole traveled for the first time up the Hudson River from New York City to visit the village of Catskill. On this fateful trip in the summer of 1825, Thomas visited the Hudson Highlands, Kaaterskill Falls, and the Catskill Mountain House, a luxurious mountain resort that brought many visitors from around the world to the region. His journey led him to create five paintings, including Falls of Kaaterskill, a work which was inspired by views he experienced at the naturally occurring waterfall known as Kaaterskill Falls, located only 10 miles from the Site today.

Upon returning to New York City Thomas exhibited these paintings in a shop owned by William A. Colman. They were immediately admired by prominent artists and art collectors in the city, including William Dunlap and John Trumbull; the latter purchased Falls of Kaaterskill, effectively jumpstarting Thomas’s career and launching him into the New York art scene. This 1825 trip introduced Thomas to his greatest muse: the Catskills. 

From Kevin J. Avery, Senior Research Scholar, The Metropolitan Museum of Art:

“Kaaterskill Falls was the scenic prize of any walk in the vicinity of the great hotels that crowned the mountaintop near Palenville and Haines Falls from 1824 to 1963.  Such a tourist magnet did the falls become that the proprietor of a mill near its crest, and after him a hotelier, charged a fee to open a dam gate constructed to regulate the flow in timed "performances."  (To watch, hotel guests and day visitors descended a wooden staircase—removed long ago—beside the cascade.)  Numerous artists represented the falls throughout the period, especially the first of them, Thomas Cole, whose earliest paintings (1825-26), showing the cataract from in front, behind (inside the cavern), and the top eventually helped earn him the nickname, "Father of the Hudson River School."“

Map & Directions

Driving Directions: We recommend Google Map . Site coordinates: 42.19584, -74.06300 Long.

Location Notes: Kaaterskill Falls today is accessible via a viewing platform. This location enables visitors to avoid hazardous alternate routes. To reach the parking lot for the viewing platform, navigate to the Laurel House Trail. From there, the Falls are about a 10 minute walk.

Plan Your Trip

Contact
Visit their Website

Admissions
Free 

Parking
Free Lot 

Restroom
No

Accessibility
Not Accessible 
Meets no ADA standards and has major barriers. Most people with disabilities, even with assistance, will be unable to access

Hours
Open all seasons 
No restriction

Distance: .6 mile round trip