Buttermilk Falls is a 45-foot waterfall on Hollowville Creek in Columbia County, New York, near Claverack and about 3.3 miles southwest of Philmont. It is a small, little-documented fall in a rolling, glaciated lowland, known mainly from lidar data and from an old mill settlement that shared its name.
The falls
Lidar measurements indicate steep tiered cascades in two drops totalling about 45 feet; earlier inventories listed no height. The feature remains unconfirmed on the ground, meaning its exact form and size have not been verified in person.
Getting there
The falls lie off Route 23, east of Red Mills. No public trail, parking area, land manager or visitor rules are documented for the falls; check access and landowner permission locally before a visit.
History and name
An 1878 history of Columbia County describes a small cluster of houses west of Hollowville known locally as Buttermilk Falls. In early times J. Rutsen Van Rensselaer ran woolen mills and a distillery on the brook there; by 1878 all of them had long since disappeared.
Nearby
High Falls on Aqawamuck Creek is about 3.4 miles away, Claverack Creek Falls about 5 miles and Fitting Creek Falls about 6.9 miles. Stuyvesant Falls on Kinderhook Creek lies about 9.7 miles away.
Distances are straight-line.