Havana Glen Campground & Eagle Cliff Falls
Location: In Havana Glen Park; Village of Montour Falls; Town of Montour, Schuyler County; New York.
Maps: Google map; Topographic; Interactive.
GPS Coordinates:
- Park entrance: N 42.33709 / W 76.83316
- Trail head: N 42.33578 / W 76.82941
- Eagle Cliff Falls: N 42.33467 / W 76.82588
Directions:
- Take NY-14 to the south end of Montour Falls and turn onto Havana Glen Rd.
- Turn where you see the Havana Glen Park sign on the right.
- Adjacent to the trailer park is Havana Glen Park.
- Follow the loop around the park to the parking lot on the far end.
Or use Google Maps.
Parking: Parking for roughly 15 cars is available in the lot near the trail head at the far end of the park. Additional parking is also available along the park loop. Try not to interfere with campsites. Keep your vehicle speed low as there are kids playing.
Weather
Information / Accessibility / Accommodations
Number of falls: Several small waterfalls and one large one.
Size/Types: Eagle Cliff Falls is 41 feet high with a 16 ft wide plunge in a nearly enclosed amphitheater of rock. Numerous small cascades can be encountered along the way including a staircase-like falls that parallels the trail.
Best time to visit: Spring, summer, fall. The park is closed after mid-October, so visit early in the fall. For photography, avoid during peak camping season.
Flow: Moderate; consistent. It may have less dramatic flow in the dry summer, but it is rarely completely dry.
Waterway: McClure Creek, a tributary to Catharine Creek, which is the main inlet into Seneca Lake to the north.
Time: 20 minutes for the Havana Glen trail. We feel one can easily spend several hours photographing around the glen and park.
Seasons/Hours: Park open in season only – approximately from mid May through mid October. Dawn to dusk.
Admission: $2 per car. Free in the off-season.
Handicap accessibility: The main park and facilities are. The view of the first set of falls is. The glen trail is not.
Pets: Allowed in the park on leash. Not allowed on the gorge trail for safety reasons.
Camping: Campsites are available. 14 electric sites and 10 tent sites. Call for more information: (607) 535-9476.
Accommodations: Restrooms; showers; pavilions; picnic tables; playgrounds; informational signs; trails; playing fields.
Description
Havana Glen Park, which includes Eagle Cliff Falls, is a well-developed town park at the south end of the village of Montour Falls. It provides for excellent recreational opportunities as it has ball fields, playgrounds, camping facilities, and a beautiful (but short) hike through Havana Glen. We found this to be an excellent location to spend the day, but one may want to avoid hot summer weekends as the place can get very busy.
The park contains various species of rare native New York State plants, and has been classified as an important area for birding, as over 100 species have been documented here. McClure Creek, the source of Eagle Cliff Falls, has been designated a trout stream, and is thus protected to allow for migratory fish from Seneca Lake to safely spawn.
Eagle Cliff Falls is interesting in that it pours down from a deep gouge cut by the stream halfway into the gorge. Currently it sits in a hanging valley at least 60 ft below the towering cliffs on each side. The narrow notch cut by the creek above the falls propels the water at a formidable speed, keeping this falls strong year-round. The crest spans 15 feet across, and more than half the water that passes it rebounds off a smaller ledge a few feet below. The water then plunges out into the creek bed 40 ft below.
Surrounding the falls area is a seemingly enclosed cathedral of vertical rock, complete with towering spires, moss covered limestone and Eagle Cliff, a spread-wing eagle profile naturally carved into the rock face. The amphitheater is so large, it gives the impression of the waterfall being very narrow, but step directly in front of the falls and you’ll see that it is actually quite wide.
Above Eagle Cliff Falls are more large waterfalls and stone chasms, once accessible a century ago when this was a private tourist attraction, but now not only is it off-limits, it is also dangerous to reach. A half mile upstream the gorge widens into Mitchell Hollow, a massive fertile expanse of heavily wooded watershed reaching all the way to Odessa. It too is off-limits.
History
Havana Glen and the surrounding area were shaped by the advance and retreat of numerous glaciers during the last ice age. At one time, Seneca Lake was at a higher level than it is today, and the whole of Havana Glen Park was under the lake.
The area has a rich human history. The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) flourished in the area, utilizing the glen’s medicinal and edible plants, such as Goldenrod and Mayapple. Catharine Montour or Queen Catharine, was a matriarch of the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois during the late 1700’s. Known to be the daughter of a native Huron and a French official, she was well versed in both cultures. Since she could speak English in addition to native languages, she was influential in dealing with early white settlers in the area. Montour Falls was previously known as ‘Catharine’s Town,’ but was destroyed during the Sullivan Expedition during the Revolutionary War. Rebuilt by non-native settlers, the town was then called Havana, and renamed Montour Falls in 1890. The village of Catharine and nearby Catharine Creek are also named after Queen Catharine.
Montour Falls was an important trade stop and travel hub in its early years. It played an important role on the Seneca Lake Inlet when the Chemung Canal was built in 1827. The Chemung Canal connected Seneca Lake with the Chemung River.
Through the 1800s the glen was privately owned and a small admission was charged to visitors. McClure Glen, as it was called, was named after its earliest settlers, Thomas McClure Sr., one of the first pioneers in the area, who traveled with his family from the Wyoming Valley (near Warsaw, NY) along the narrow Indian trail from Elmira to Seneca Lake around 1789. He had served as a soldier during the Revolutionary War.
The development of Havana Glen as a scenic destination began with nearby Watkins Glen’s growing popularity. A long-standing administrative rivalry between the village of Watkins Glen and Montour Falls (then Havana) extended to their natural wonders. As Watkins Glen brought in upwards of 60,000 visitors a year, entrepreneurs began developing Havana Glen to be an attraction of its own, with much more of the glen accessible than there is today.
Hiking / Walking Trails
Difficulty: Easy.
Markings: Marked trail with gravel and wood deck walkways.
Distance: A few hundred feet at most.
Trail Guide: The Glen Trail is very short and only climbs 5 modest flights of stairs.
- It starts from the parking area at the back of the park, up the left side of the creek, past numerous small falls.
- Pass another waterfall as you go around the bend.
- Pass a narrow staircase cascade just before the trail ends at the entrance to the Eagle Cliff amphitheater.
- Once there, you can creek walk closer to the falls.
We highly recommend you do not scale any walls, and that you keep a look out for falling rocks. In high flow, dipping under the falls could knock you over. Be careful.
Map: Interactive.
Havana Glen Interactive Map
Havana Glen and Eagle Cliff Falls Media
Havana Glen Video
Havana Glen Photo Gallery
A friendly reminder that the photos on this page are under copyright of the creator and unauthorized commercial use will result in a bill being sent for license fees. You are granted permission to use a photo on your website or blog if you link back to this page.
Interesting Stuff
Catharine Valley Trail
Catharine Valley Trail, when completed, will extend 12 miles from Watkins Glen State Park to Mark Twain State Park in Horseheads, NY, passing through Montour Falls along the way. The trail follows the old Northern Central Railroad and the Chemung Canal towpaths with multiple historic sites along the way. More information.
Montour Falls Library
Located on Main Street, the 150 year old building is simply magnificent, inside and out.
Photography Tips
Photographing the falls
- The lower reaches of the glen are hard to photograph since most of the time the trail does not allow direct access to, or views of, the glen below. There is one excellent photographing opportunity right at the parking lot and trailhead where you can capture numerous small cascades lined up alongside the trail.
- Bring a wide-angle lens due to the sheer size of the amphitheater. Try including parts of the natural rock formations surrounding the falls itself to capture a sense of the size.
- Walk across the creek and to the right of the falls, which will give you an excellent vantage point to capture both the unique bouncing cascade and the outline of the eagle in the far side of the cliff.
- There is a lot of spray close to the falls, so check your lenses frequently.
- Don’t forget to include Eagle Cliff.
- Try including people in your photos of Eagle Gliff Falls to give a sense of scale.
Silky Water Effect
- To get that smooth cotton-candy look to the falls, you need to use a Neutral Density (ND) filter on your lens. The ND filter will block some of the light from entering the lens without altering the color, and thus allow your shutter to stay open longer. This blurs the water and creates a soft white gloss to the foamy areas of the falls. Check out the article for the all the details.
More tips
- See the Articles for more photography tips.
Who to Contact
Havana Glen Park
Town of Montour
Havana Glen Road
P.O. Box 57
Montour Falls, NY 14865
Phone: (607) 535-9476
