Re: Montville Falls / Decker Creek Falls - Cayuga County
Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 10:48 am
Will do. Probably looking at a June timeframe, unless my work schedule changes.
Upstate New York Nature, Hiking, Photography Community
https://www.nyfalls.com:443/board/
Wow - that's great - so are the pics! Amazing to think how much has changed in the area...nostalgic wrote:Thanks, Matt.
Check these out:
http://www.nonesuchfolks.com/Montville_SylvanLake.htm
I did a little studying on the history of Moravia - I found bits and pieces here and there and tried to envision from what I remember along the creeks. This one reference is really long and it wouldn't let me copy and paste.
http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/ ... 500456.pdf
Unless you want to read the whole thing, skip ahead to the bottom of page 5 (of 25!).
They talk about Goodrich and Pierce creeks, here, these have to be earlier names for Decker and Dresserville. (I stumbled on other references and older maps using these names as well). Not only is this area rich because of its natural beauty, it is also steeped in history.
Over time several dams were built on Dresserville, Decker, and Mill creeks. The dam on Mill Creek, described on page 6, created a manmade lake (Sylvan Lake) The pictures of Sylvan Lake would have been taken from the area at the end of the gravel road behind the mill, the same road I used to ride my bike down.
Moravia, N.Y. -- The body of an East Amherst man was found today at the bottom of the Decker Creek gorge adjacent to State Route 38A in the town of Moravia, state police said.
After an investigation, state police determined that Charles Barney, 53, was in the area to photograph waterfalls and apparently slipped and fell to the bottom of the gorge. Emergency medical workers responded and pronounced him dead. His body was removed to the Onondaga County Medical Examiner’s Office at the direction of Cayuga County Coroner Investigator Paul Weiman.
The state police was assisted by the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Department, Moravia Police Department, Cayuga County High Angle Rescue Team and the Moravia, Locke, Sempronius and West Niles fire departments.