Letchworth State Park

About this place

Letchworth State Park is a state park of about 5,838 hectares in western New York, about 65 km in a straight line south-west of the city of Rochester. It stretches about 27 km along the Genesee River as it flows north through a deep gorge and over several large waterfalls. In 1859 the Buffalo industrialist William Pryor Letchworth began buying land near the Middle Falls and built his Glen Iris Estate, and in 1906 he bequeathed the estate, about 4 square kilometres, to New York State, where it became the core of the new park. The park features three large waterfalls on the river, the Upper, Middle and Lower Falls, and the gorge walls rise up to 170 m. The river winds through a deep canyon between banded rock cliffs topped with forest, earning the nickname «Grand Canyon of the East». The Middle Falls drops in a broad curtain of white water, a tall steel railway bridge spans the gorge above the Upper Falls, the forests blaze red and orange in autumn, and rainbows often form in the spray. A vehicle entry fee applies, and a park road with many overlooks and rim trails runs through it. Autumn colour usually peaks in October, and some roads may close partly in winter.