Pratt’s Falls County Park

POMPEY WEATHER

The centerpiece of this county park is its sole falls. Although it resides in a deep narrow gorge covered in trees, it is seen perfectly framed by foliage from the provided lookout area half-way down. A small dam provides a small fishing pond near the parking area, but also keeps Pratt’s Falls flowing, even in mid-summer. An excellent case of a “buttermilk” falls, the waters bounce continuously from one jagged limestone edge to the next, frothing and generating rainbow-producing mist along the way. The gorge walls feed a slight echo to the 137 feet high cascade, spreading the tranquil sound of the tumbling water to the adjacent areas of the park. The sheer size of the falls, combined with its many ledges and narrow gorge, make this one of the most pleasing hikes for the senses. It’s a beautiful falls and a convenient hike. Well worth a stop, especially if combining it with Green Lakes State Park or Onondaga Lake Park.

Although evidence of early Onondaga native occupation near Pratt’s Falls has been documented, precise records of what, as well as the location of, unearthed tools and village remnants have not been recorded. In nearby Pompey Center, evidence has been found of pre-17th century copper working by the Onondaga. This was a very historically significant find for the pre-history of New York.

Onondaga County saw its first sawmill here in 1796 and grist mill in 1798, constructed by Manoah Pratt and Abraham Smith, on a rock ledge just above the falls. Pratt was born in 1754, in Glastenbury, Connecticut, arriving with his family and Smith in Pompey, NY in 1796 where they settled on a 500-acre plot. Pratt also operated a farm here, hosted town meetings, and contributed to the construction of Pompey town facilities and schools. Manoah Pratt died in 1841. His son Joseph inherited the mill and farm and operated them until his death. His grandson, Seabred Dodge Pratt, a lawyer, penned a poem about the falls in an 1852 novel titled “Inklings”:

On the west Branch of Limestone Creek, in the town of Pompey, Pratt’s Falls are located. They are more like a mountain gorge than a river cataract. When the stream is large, the various little projections in the surface of the rocks, change the water into a white foam in its descent; but in the dry season, the water drops from the moss and smooth surface of the rocks, or leaps in tiny rills from point to point. The Falls are about the height of Niagara.

Through the wild forest and the tangled glen,
Where the breeze whispers, and the heart may learn
From nature’s converse sweet, untaught by men
Where Flora loves to bloom and seems to spurn
The hand of culture-where wild bush and fern
Alternate mingle, I have traveled far,
And listened to the song which would return
Upon the breeze, when there were none to mar
The scene, till glimmered through the trees, the evening star.

And I have loved in gentle summer-time,
To roam around the Falls, increase my store
Of rural love, and hear the drowsy chime
Which soothed the fever of my bosom’s core,
And bathe my temples in the misty lore
Which seems to float through all the humid air ;
And grown familiar, I have loved them more,
Until with me, myself they seem to share,
And with them, fancy weaves bright visions of the fair.

The 1908 book, Past and Present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York , by William Martin Beauchamp, logs a local account by early Onondaga resident Eliakim Clark, of two woman falling over the falls.

Clark relates the adventure of a young woman at Pratt’s Falls. She went berrying and narrowly escaped a burying of another kind for she fell from the edge of the rocks. The falls are but one hundred and thirty seven feet high, but the descent of the stream makes the precipice higher below, and it is added “the whole distance from the place from which she fell to the place at which she finally landed was ascertained by actual measure to be over one hundred and seventy feet.” Her dress may have formed a parachute. Another young lady climbed into a perilous position and had to be drawn up by a rope all of which goes to show that there is a special Providence for the fair women of Pompey. 

Onondaga purchased the land in 1931 and it was developed into a park soon after by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Videos

Pratt’s Falls County Park
7671 Pratt’s Falls Road
Manlius, NY 13104
Phone: (315) 435-5252
[email protected]
onondagacountyparks.com