High Falls is a 78-foot waterfall on the Genesee River in the middle of downtown Rochester, New York, the tallest of the river's three falls within the city. Its water powered the mills that made early Rochester, and the city still views it from an 1891 bridge that crosses the gorge just below the drop.
The falls
The Genesee pours over a single vertical ledge about 200 feet wide. The World Waterfall Database measured the drop at 78 feet from lidar; earlier surveys listed 96 feet, and the city and local guides still quote that figure. Flow is regulated by hydroelectric development: water is diverted above the brink, and the banks were partly reshaped to steer the river away from neighboring buildings. The gorge walls expose shale, limestone and sandstone with bands of iron ore, rock more than 400 million years old, including the red Medina sandstone used across Rochester.
Getting there
The main viewpoint is the Pont de Rennes, a pedestrian bridge on the Genesee Riverway Trail, 858 feet long and 114 feet above the river. It reopened in December 2024 after rehabilitation. The city-run High Falls Garage is at 240 State Street, with 16 accessible spaces; parking costs $3 for the first hour, $2 for each additional hour and $11 daily maximum, with free parking on weekends.
When to go
Flow over the falls is regulated by hydroelectric diversion, and no seasonal pattern or best time for photos is documented.
On site
Three viewpoints take in the falls: the Pont de Rennes, the overlook at High Falls Terrace Park and the rooftop of the Genesee Brew House. The bridge stands a few hundred feet from the base of the falls. There is no public access to the gorge floor today. The City of Rochester offers a self-guided audio walking tour of the district.
History and name
In 1815 the Brown brothers dug Browns Race, a power canal 1,221 feet long and 30 feet wide, to carry water from above the falls to at least nine major mills, and Rochester became known as the flour capital of the world. The district is now a National Register historic district. On November 13, 1829, the daredevil Sam Patch, already famous for leaping at Niagara, jumped from High Falls and was killed. The Pont de Rennes was built in 1891, converted to pedestrian use in 1982 and named for Rochester's sister city in France. The falls are also known as Main Falls and Upper Falls. In October 2025 the state announced a proposed 40-acre High Falls State Park with over 2.5 miles of trails on both sides of the gorge, the first state park inside the city; construction is planned in phases from 2026 to 2032.
Nearby
Lower Falls of the Genesee, downstream on the Genesee, is about 1.5 miles away. Densmore Falls is about 3.8 miles away and Bullock's Woods Falls about 4.3 miles.
Distances are straight-line.