Leatherstocking Falls is a 45-foot steep cascade on Leatherstocking Creek in Otsego County, New York, about 2.2 miles north of Cooperstown. It is the waterfall of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, and it stands on posted private land that is closed to the public.
The falls
Lidar measurements indicate the falls drop about 45 feet in a single steep cascade. Leatherstocking Creek rises northwest of Pierstown and runs down to Otsego Lake north of Cooperstown, crossing the dissected shale and sandstone upland of the Northern Allegheny Plateau.
Getting there
There is no public trail or parking. The falls are privately owned, with the surrounding land posted and closed to all public access. The falls and nearly 100 acres overlooking Otsego Lake are protected under a conservation easement held by the Otsego Land Trust, but the easement does not open the property to visitors. Entering requires the landowner's permission.
When to go
Seasonal flow for this creek is not documented.
History and name
The falls go by several other names: Deowongo Falls, Bear Cliff Falls and Panther's Leap. Deowongo is given as an Oneida word meaning "place of hearing." In Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, the hero rescues an Indian maiden at the falls, and the Albany Institute included the site in its 1881 report on local historical monuments. In 1990 Dorothy Campbell placed the falls and the surrounding land at historic Leatherstocking Farm under the Otsego Land Trust's first conservation easement.
Nearby
Judds Falls and Salt Springville Road Falls are each about 11.3 miles away, and Van Hornesville Falls on Otsquago Creek is about 12.5 miles away.
Distances are straight-line.