Niagara Falls in New York is listed here at its largest waterfall, the Horseshoe Falls, a 167-foot curtain of the Niagara River that straddles the border between New York and Ontario. Its American edge is Terrapin Point on Goat Island; most of the horseshoe, and the Table Rock viewpoint facing it, lie in Canada.
The falls
The Horseshoe Falls is a single 167-foot drop just over 2,700 feet wide. After water is diverted upstream for hydropower, about 90 percent of what remains in the river goes over it rather than the American Falls. A hard caprock of Lockport dolomite overlies soft shale; as the shale is undercut, the edge breaks off, and the crest has worn from a shallow arch into a horseshoe and now a V-shaped notch. Erosion that once moved the brink back 3.3 to 4.9 feet a year has slowed to about 12 inches a year. The falls began forming about 12,000 years ago, as the glaciers retreated and the Great Lakes drained over the Niagara Escarpment.
Getting there
Terrapin Point is at the western tip of Goat Island in Niagara Falls State Park, a short walk from Parking Lot 2 on Goat Island Loop Road. The park is free; Lot 2 costs $10 a day, or $15 on summer weekends from May 22 to October 11. For the view from Canada, pedestrians can walk the Rainbow Bridge; US citizens need a valid passport to cross.
When to go
The Horseshoe Falls runs all year, carrying the bulk of the river's flow in every season.
On site
Terrapin Point puts visitors beside the brink of the falls, with the Top of the Falls Restaurant and a gift shop nearby, and it is listed as accessible. On the Canadian side, Niagara Parks' Journey Behind the Falls at Table Rock takes visitors 125 feet down through old rock tunnels to portals behind the curtain and decks at its foot; it is open daily year-round, and in 2026 adult tickets cost CA$33 (CA$21.50 for ages 3 to 12). The upper deck is reached by elevator, the lower one only by stairs.
History and name
Terrapin Point was once a string of separate boulders, the Terrapin Rocks, named for their tortoise shapes. In 1827 the Porter brothers ran a 300-foot footbridge out to them, and in 1833 added Terrapin Tower, which stood until 1873. River dredging spoil filled the gap in 1955; after cracks closed the point in 1969, the Army Corps of Engineers removed 25,000 tons of rock and built diversion walls that eliminated 400 feet of the crest, reopening the point in September 1983.
In 1960 seven-year-old Roger Woodward was swept over it and was pulled from the plunge pool by the Maid of the Mist crew, and in 2012 Nik Wallenda walked a tightrope near its brink from Terrapin Point to Canada.
Nearby
Bridal Veil Falls is about 0.4 mile away, at the other end of Goat Island, and the American Falls about 0.6 mile. Spring Cave Cascade is about 5.8 miles away.
Distances are straight-line.