Buttermilk Falls State Park New York, Hiking, Trails, Pictures, Movies and Maps

Buttermilk Creek flows down the east side of the Cayuga Valley, dropping more than 600 feet over 10 separate waterfalls and through two discrete glens. Most of this drop is over rocks of the Ithaca Formation, which is of Late Devonian age. An interesting feature along Buttermilk Creek is Pinnacle Rock, a 40-foot pillar of shale left by erosion of the stream around it. You'll see plunge pools and potholes.

Water has shaped the natural landscape of the park. During the past million years, water in the form of giant mounds of ice, or glaciers, covered New york State several times, dramatically transforming the land in its path. In this region, the most recent glacier moved through shallow river valleys leaving in its place deep, steep-sided throughs. When the glacier receded north about 10,000 years ago, water filled these new troughs, creating the 11 Finger Lakes which include Cayuga Lake. Since then, water in the form of Buttermilk Creek has poured down the glacially-steepened hillside, cutting away its soft sedimentary rock. This on-going process has formed the park's gorge and spectacular waterfalls.

During the 1700s, Sapony Indians lived in the village of Coreorgonel near Buttermilk Falls. There were twenty-five log cabins surrounded by cultivated fields and plum and apple orchards. The inhabitants of Coreorgonel fled before the Continental Army burned it on September 4, 1779, during the Revolutionary War.

Like nearby Treman State Park, the initial grant of land for the park came from Robert and Laura Treman. Since 1924, the original 154 acres have grown to the present size of 751 acres.

For more information about Buttermilk Falls and other Finger Lakes state parks go to Finger Lakes State Parks.

The Finger Lakes State Parks of New York are the most dazzling and mesmerizing series of waterfall bonanzas that I've ever Hiked. I wondered, how could awesome natural beauty like this have been created. Once again the answer came with a little basic Geology. The many waterfalls are left over from the last ice age. Mother Nature sculptured out her master pieces using time, cold weather,heavy ice, water and gravity. I wish I could have been around all those years to witness it.