Wender·Vista
Kaaterskill Falls Catskills
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileNew York
in the eastern Catskills, above the village of Haines Falls

Kaaterskill Falls Catskills

— — the two drops the Hudson River School could not stop painting.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“A two-tier waterfall on the eastern escarpment of the Catskills, two hundred and sixty feet from the upper lip to the lower pool. Thomas Cole painted it. James Fenimore Cooper put it in the mouth of Natty Bumppo. The trail leaves Route 23A at the hairpin below Haines Falls, with a second approach from the rim at Laurel House Road. In high water, late April and after September rain, it carries; in August, it can run thin.

from the studio
Kaaterskill Falls Catskills
— bring it home

Kaaterskill Falls Catskills, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Kaaterskill Falls Catskills

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Kaaterskill Falls drops in two tiers down the eastern escarpment of the Catskill Mountains in Greene County, New York. The upper fall is 175 feet, the lower fall 85 feet, for a combined drop of 260 feet, one of the tallest waterfalls in the eastern United States. The water is Spruce Creek, which gathers on the high plateau around the former Catskill Mountain House site at North-South Lake and falls toward Kaaterskill Clove. The trailhead on Route 23A sits at the hairpin below Haines Falls; a second approach reaches the rim from Laurel House Road.

— the water

Spruce Creek runs hardest in late April and early May, when snowmelt off the high plateau pushes the upper fall into a single roaring sheet, and again after significant September and October rain. In dry midsummer, the flow can thin to a pair of braided ribbons across the upper face. In hard winter, the falls freeze into a stacked blue-green column that experienced ice climbers attempt from the base in the Kaaterskill Clove canyon below the lower pool, under permits issued by the state.

— the visit

The standard approach is from the Laurel House Road trailhead at the top, which leads via a paved path and a steel viewing platform to the upper rim and the head of the falls. The historic route climbs from Route 23A below, on a steep half-mile of stone steps cut into the gorge wall. The site is open at all hours; the viewing platform was rebuilt in 2016 after fatalities at the unfenced lip. No fee. The Laurel House lot fills early on summer and foliage weekends.

— where
United States · Hunter, Greene County, New York
— within
Catskill Park
— position
42.1958° N · 74.0617° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
2 km N
North-South Lake
state campground and lake
1 km S
Kaaterskill Clove
mountain canyon
11 km W
Hunter Mountain
ski mountain
3 km NE
Catskill Mountain House site
historic hotel site
N
Kaaterskill Falls Catskills
North-South Lake
Kaaterskill Clove
Hunter Mountain
Catskill Mountain House site
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Kaaterskill Falls Catskills — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Two hundred and sixty feet across two drops, an upper fall of one hundred seventy-five feet and a lower fall of eighty-five feet, making it one of the tallest waterfalls in the eastern United States.

In the eastern Catskill Mountains of Greene County, New York, on Spruce Creek above Kaaterskill Clove, just west of Haines Falls and about two and a half hours north of New York City.

Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School, painted the falls repeatedly from the 1820s. His student Frederic Edwin Church and the painter Sanford Robinson Gifford also worked from the same view.

The Laurel House Road trailhead at the top reaches a steel viewing platform on a paved path. The historic lower route climbs from Route 23A on a steep half-mile of stone steps cut into the gorge wall.

Late April and early May during snowmelt off the high plateau, and again after significant September or October rain. Mid- and late summer flow can thin to a pair of braided ribbons across the upper face.

No fee and no permit for the standard hike. The Laurel House Road parking lot fills early on summer and foliage weekends; arrive before nine in the morning to find a spot.

— about the piece in your home

It has been for many of our customers. Kaaterskill is a fixed point in the Catskill hiking calendar, and the piece reads as a memory of the gorge rather than as a tourist postcard of it.

Yes. The falls are the most painted single subject in the Hudson River School canon, beginning with Thomas Cole in the 1820s. The piece sits comfortably in a room of nineteenth-century landscape prints.

The deep greens and rust-browns suit Catskill modern, warm transitional, and library-leaning studies. It reads especially well against dark green walls or natural, unfinished wood paneling.

A single Large hangs cleanly above a console table. Above a standard sofa, a 4-tile Mural reads at the right scale; a 9-tile Mural suits a long wall in a great room or a library.

Yes. For damp rooms or splashed surfaces, choose Dura Satin or Matte. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface and is unbothered by steam, water, or routine cleaners.

A soft microfibre cloth and warm water. Skip abrasives and ammonia-based cleaners. The colour lives in the surface, so daily care is the same as any high-quality ceramic tile.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted by Reid Wender, the studio's curator, and produced only in our Knoxville studio. We do not license the work outside the family of Wender shops.

— if this one stayed with you

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