| Directions
At the intersection of NY 5 and NY
30 in Amsterdam, drive east on NY 5. The road
will become a four-lane, and you will immediately turn
left toward a sign for East Main Street. This
is a short piece of road that takes you to the west-bound
lane. Ahead, you will see Chapman Drive which
bears to the right, across the west-bound lane of NY
5. Almost immediately there is a left that is
a private road leading to this waterfall.
|
|
County: |
Montgomery |
|
Town: |
City of Amsterdam |
|
USGS Map: |
Amsterdam |
|
Waterway: |
Unnamed waterway |
|
Latitude: |
N 42° 55' 48" |
|
Longitude: |
W 74° 10' 28" |
|
Drop: |
20' |
| Type: |
Ribbon
Block |
| Region: |
Within
the city of Amsterdam |
| Parking: |
Unpaved
lot |
| Trail
type: |
NA |
| Length
of hike: |
NA |
| Difficulty: |
Easy |
| Accessibility: |
Private |
| Name: |
Unnamed |
|
The status of this location has changed. As you will read,
on a visit there a few years ago, we arrived when the owner was
there and got a tour and history of the facility. On a
return in September 2017, we were met with a closed gate at the
entrance of the road. This facility, and waterfall, is no
longer accessible.
Not only is this waterfall technically not named, neither is
the waterway that it is on. We previously referred to it as
Cliffside Restaurant Falls because a restaurant of that name operated
there. It is our understanding that previous to that, it was
operated as the Teepee Restaurant and the waterfall may have been
referred to as Teepee Falls because of that. Although the
building is still there, the restaurant no longer operates.
For that reason, we will simply refer to it as Cliffside Falls.
The waterfall itself is very pretty. An estimated twenty
foot drop, it is a ribbon block plummeting from the top of this
cliff. As you stand there viewing it, you can imagine
what it would be like to sit in the dining room, enjoying dinner
with this waterfall as a back-drop.
As for the facility, it can only be described as sad. Once
a thriving, beautiful, well-maintained restaurant, it has fallen
into a major state of disrepair. The area is posted, but we
had the good fortune while we were there to meet the owner.
He bought it through a tax sale a few years ago with the idea of
renovating it. He has several ideas, including a micro-brewery
but time, lack of financial backing, nature and vandals have taken
their toll.
The building itself is gorgeous but a long way from its glory
days. The architecture and stone-work fit into the setting
ideally. However, vandals have taken a huge hit here between
graffiti and broken windows. Nature has also contributed to
the decay with mold and humidity destroying much of the interior.
Because of vandalism, the owner has actually renovated a portion
of the motel that is attached to the restaurant and now lives there.
The cliff-side itself, once open and an impressive sight, is now
overgrown with trees and brush.
He has dreams of restoring the facility to its former beauty
and operating a business there. As he told us some of his
ideas, we could envision sipping craft-brewed beer or attending
a wedding reception here. We wish him well.
This unnamed waterway flows into the Mohawk River just downstream
from this location. The Mohawk joins the Hudson River which
flows into the Atlantic Ocean in New York City.
Last update: October 7, 2017
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