Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park — Attraction in Paterson

The Great Falls is a natural geological formation created at the end of the last ice age 13,000 years ago. This area was inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans until the arrival of the Dutch settlers in the 1690s. The water fall was later harnessed to power cotton mills, marking Paterson NJ as the first industrial city in America.

A nice place to visit and it may be a little 'odd' for first timers to navigate this area. There isn't really a "main" entrance. You would park (for free, see my map) across the street from the park's official mini-building tour office, which is called the "overlook." Then you would walk around on top to get an ok view of falls. But if you walk down a ramp with no markings, you can find a better, leveled, direct look towards the base of the waterfall. This is the area frequented by photographers. The area has a fence around the entire water body, but you will find a hole in the fence directly towards the waterfall, enough to use your camera to take better photos. This hole in the fence part is where you will find photographers primarily in sunrise/sunset hours, and throughout the day.

That said, there is more to this park, like the mini bridge above the waterfall (see my photo). You can't access this from the official overlook parking. My recommendation is to drive down Maple St and park (see my map) down in the little parking lot (free) and walk down the path (see my crappy dotted line on map) to access the bridge. Don't worry about that stadium you see. That's an old, historical, abandoned stadium that became a nest for criminal activities and graffiti. It was once home to the "New York Black Yankees." I think there are debates to restore it as a historical site, but don't explore this area alone for now.

As of the moment (Jan 2018) the main parking spot is closed due to construction. Your only 'free' choice is the parking outlined above. Do not park in parking lots around this area that seem to be connected to the overlook parking: You will be towed!!

My personal thoughts. The falls is like a mini Niagara Falls in the middle of a crime ridden city. Paterson is often cited as the worst place city to live in America and of the the worst places for crime. Even as you take a mini adventure stroll through the park, you see drug paraphernalia strewn about every few feet. In the summer, the park looks well kept, with young National Park Service members walking around. In the winter, the place is horribly kept, with visual pollution just about everywhere. Visiting this place when nature blossoms with green leaves and grass everywhere, provides the optimal experience. Visiting when nature is gone on vacation will make this place seem barren and destitute as the immediate city around the park becomes overpowering. I do visit year-round whenever I'm in the area to observe the falls behavior in different seasons. In the icy winter, many parts freeze on top, which become icy barricades that collect all sorts of garbage, from large plastic containers to a myriad of other...

This park is a fine example of nineteenth-century industrial engineering. In the late eighteenth century, a dam and bypass above the falls fed a reservoir that in turn fed a raceway to a mill. It was a typical structure for the era. However, it proved unstable, and over a half century evolved into the much more elaborate triple-raceway that now exists.

The river is now diverted next to the Wayne Avenue bridge and runs along an upper raceway. This is followed after a half mile by a switchback, at which point there is a spillway to the middle raceway, which then retraces the path of the upper raceway. Several mills, including what may have been the first Fourdriner (continuous-spool) paper mill in America, were along the middle raceway. The middle raceway then turns and runs perpendicular for a while before descending another spillway to the lower raceway. The lower raceway meanders through city streets before returning to the river below the falls. In its day, it powered the Colt revolver and Rogers steam locomotive plants, now in ruins.

Unfortunately the park has decayed. Once an oasis in the middle of urban blight, the situation has reversed, with the surrounding area improving even as the park deteriorates. The north end, which contains abandoned mills, is fenced off. The raceways are dry. The explainers that once provided some of this information have disappeared. The pedestrian bridge over the falls is unsafe and closed, meaning that the west end of the park, including Hinchliffe Stadium (as far as I know the only baseball stadium in a national park), is more or less cut off from the rest of the park. And the streets running through the park are in a state of perpetual gridlock, making it difficult to cross safely. One would wish for more funding to give this interesting, and visually stunning park a chance to better show off what it has.

If you need your Passport stamped, ring the bell at the park office and a ranger will take...

A hidden gem, excellent walk through an important part of American and industrial history. Not only is it beautiful to look at, but fascinating to learn about how Alexander Hamilton recognized and harnessed the power of the falls to build one of the first ever corporations and the industrial mecca of Paterson, NJ (no joke - look it up). We had a nice picnic lunch at one of the tables overlooking the falls, then did a walking tour with a park ranger that started at 2pm on a weekday. Definitely do the tour if you have the chance! Informative and interesting. The kids completed a scavenger hunt and got their junior ranger badges which is a must-do for kids at any national park. Ranger Perez - a Paterson native - did a great job giving a thorough and informative tour. Unfortunately the bridge over the falls has been closed for a while but we were told the funding has been received to repair it and that work should be done in 2024. For now the best views are on the points on either side before the entrance of the closed bridge, or down in the amphitheater area by the old S.U.M. building. You can also walk across the street to the raceway park where you can walk along the now-defunct water raceway, which has been shuttered since Hurricane Irene blew out the bottom and flooded Paterson, also scheduled for rehab soon. This path takes you down to the history museum which we didn't visit but plan to go back. Paterson is a historic district full of the old brick factory buildings that used to be connected to the water flowing down the raceways to power the various mills - locomotives, revolvers, silk and many other items were made here at the height of its industrial revolutionary past. We've lived nearby for over a decade and only recently visited, having traveled thousands of miles to visit more popular national parks. This is a local treasure that we will visit again -...