Buttermilk Falls

Buttermilk Falls is a 55-foot curtain waterfall on Oatka Creek in Genesee County, New York, about 1.9 miles north of the village of Le Roy. It sits on posted private land closed to the public, and the owners have asked people not to visit.

The falls

Oatka Creek drops in a single curtain over the Onondaga escarpment. Lidar data gives the height as about 55 feet; earlier surveys listed 50 feet, and NYFalls estimates about 70 feet. The limestone here is porous, so part of the creek runs through the rock: water bursts from several points across a bowl-shaped cliff face, most visibly at low water, with a large pool at the base.

Getting there

There is no public access. The land is patrolled; the service road to the falls, a former Lehigh Valley railroad line, and the east bank belong to the Dolomite Group, which runs a quarry just east of the creek, and both banks below the falls belong to private farms.

On site

The cliff has a history of serious falls. In June 2012 a 34-year-old man fell more than 30 feet from the top onto a ledge about 40 feet above the water and was taken to hospital with a head injury after a rescue involving more than 60 responders; seven people were charged with trespass. The Le Roy fire chief said three people had fallen from the top in his 12 years with the department, and the first two died. Swimming and cliff jumping in the pool are among the reasons the owners enforce the trespass ban.

History and name

The name Buttermilk Falls was first given to a smaller 11-foot fall to the south at Le Roy's first town meeting in 1798, and was attached to this larger fall on maps as early as the 1850s. Oatka comes from a Seneca word meaning "opening."

Nearby

Le Roy Falls, also on Oatka Creek, is about 2 miles away. Morganville Falls on Black Creek is 5.1 miles away, and Clarendon Falls on Sandy Creek is 13.7 miles.

Distances are straight-line.