Letchworth Upper Falls
— — a river going over the edge, with a train overhead.
Not only on a wall.
“Upper Falls is the first drop the Genesee makes as it enters Letchworth's gorge, a 70-foot fall directly beneath the Portage Bridge. The current railroad bridge — a stone-and-steel arch finished in 2017 — replaced the long iron trestle that stood here from 1875. From the overlook the falls and the bridge appear in one frame: water white, stone warm grey, the arch carrying the Norfolk Southern line across the canyon. Freight trains still pass several times a day. People time their photographs to the whistle. from the studio
Letchworth Upper Falls, 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.
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.
The place, in three passes.
Upper Falls is the uppermost of the three named waterfalls along the Genesee River inside Letchworth State Park. The river drops about 70 feet over a shelf of Devonian sandstone, marking the head of the long gorge that continues 17 miles north to Mount Morris. Directly above the falls runs the Portage Bridge, a steel arch on stone abutments completed by Norfolk Southern in 2017 to replace the iron trestle of 1875. The site is reached from the southern Portageville entrance to the park, a short drive from the village of the same name in Wyoming County.
The arch overhead carries the Norfolk Southern Southern Tier line and stands 245 feet above the river at its highest point, just shy of the original 1875 trestle it replaced. The new bridge is built of weathering steel on dressed stone piers and was opened to traffic in December 2017 after three years of construction beside the old span. The cliffs framing the falls are layered Devonian sandstone, siltstone, and shale, the same beds exposed in the gorge walls downstream past Middle Falls. The Glen Iris Inn sits a short walk north on the lawn above Middle Falls.
Upper Falls is reached from the Lower Falls / Portageville entrance off Route 436 at the southern end of the park, open year-round with a vehicle fee from May through October. The Upper Falls Overlook is a short, mostly level walk from parking and is one of the few angles in the park where falls and bridge are in the same frame. Freight trains still cross several times a day. The Gorge Trail (Trail 1) continues north from here a quarter mile to Middle Falls and then onward 7 miles along the rim. Peak fall colour usually lands the second week of October.