Rock City Falls

A place to discuss waterfalls. Including the parks that house them and the hikes to get to them.

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Jeduthan
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I didn't see a post related to Rock City Falls, so...

The falls themselves are neither large nor spectacular, and the adjacent factory building doesn't add any natural beauty. A visit may be worth the trip if you like to view older mill or factory buildings. One building, off to the right as you face the falls, dates to 1859. It looks as if someone spent time and money to convert the stone building into offices. And just a few moments away, heading west on Rte 29 at the intersection with Emigh Road, you'll find an apparently abandoned mill/factory building built right on the creek with its dam adjacent to the mill.

The falls can be easily viewed from the road. There isn't much room to park near the creek, so best bet's probably to park on a near side road and walk to the bridge over the creek.
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Matt
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Sorry, I didn't catch this topic sooner. So, I assume "Rock City" isn't Detroit.. and it was probably named that for a reason. Any ideas?
Yeah... that factory is an eyesore, but looks relatively modern. Any ideas on what it was?
That's actually a pretty cool looking falls.
Jeduthan
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I believe the mill in the picture was a paper mill, although I don't think the original mills on that location were paper mills. Another empty, smaller mill on Rte 29 was owned by George West, inventor of the folding paper bag. Hard to imagine that someone could actually 'invent' the folding paper bag - that it would be such a novel concept - when we've lived with them all our lives. Sort of like kids today when you try to tell them about life in the Dark Ages before the internet.

Anyway, Mr. West earned his fortune manufacturing paper bags and was elected to the NYS Legislature and to the US Congress. The largest house in Rock City Falls was the family mansion and now its owners operate it as a B&B.

Here's a picture of one of his original mills, the one on Rte 29 mentioned above. It's referred to as the 'Empire Mill'. You will see more pictures superior to mine if you search for 'abandoned Empire Mill' and 'Rock City Falls'.
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Matt
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Wonderful. that's great info.
They should put up a marker for the paper bag inventor.
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