Middlebury Falls is an 18-foot block waterfall on Otter Creek in the center of Middlebury, Addison County, Vermont. The village grew up around it: the falls powered its first mills in 1787, and today they can be seen from a footbridge and a riverside park a few minutes from downtown parking.
The falls
Otter Creek drops in a single broad plunge over an undercut shelf about 170 feet wide, with average flows of about 1,200 cubic feet per second for eight months of the year and about 550 for the other four. At high water the creek covers the entire face; in summer it can split into separate channels. Remnants of an old millrace are visible on the right side.
Getting there
The falls are in downtown Middlebury. Public parking is on Mill Street, on Main Street and near the Marbleworks on the north side of the creek. The first views are less than 0.1 mile from the Mill Street lot; an easy 0.3-mile loop with negligible gain crosses the pedestrian bridge over Otter Creek to Riverfront Park, then returns through downtown along Main Street. Viewing is free.
When to go
The creek flows year-round. May to October is the recommended season; the falls look fullest during spring snowmelt, from April to June, and after heavy rain.
On site
A metal footbridge downstream looks at the falls through groves of trees, and Riverfront Park gives an open, head-on view. The views are accessible from the road and the park. Dogs are allowed, and swimming is not possible. Stay off the wet rocks and don't climb on the falls.
History and name
Gamaliel Painter built a sawmill at the north brink of the falls in 1787 and a gristmill by 1788, while Daniel Foot set up rival mills on the south bank, then part of Cornwall. Foot built the first bridge above the falls in 1787, a wooden span of 70 feet on log piers. By 1793 about 62 buildings stood at the falls, then known as Painter's Mills, and the Cornwall side was annexed in 1796. After fire destroyed the wooden bridge in 1891, the stone-arched Main Street bridge was built in 1892–1893, modeled on the Ponte Sant'Angelo in Rome.
Nearby
Bittersweet Falls is about 2.7 miles away, Halpins Falls about 2.9 miles, Dog Team Falls on the New Haven River about 3.4 miles and Huntington Falls about 4.2 miles. The Middlebury College campus is close to downtown.
Distances are straight-line.