New Jersey

Great Falls

17 mi from New York · ~30 min drive

75ft tall
≈ 23 m

Great Falls is a named waterfall in New Jersey — a 75-foot drop, about 17 miles from New York, NY. Full visit details below.

Nearest city
New York, NY · 17 mi · ~30 min drive
Height
75 ft (23 m)
From Wikipedia: The Great Falls of the Passaic River is a 77-foot (23 m) high waterfall on the Passaic River in the city of Paterson in Passaic County, New Jersey. One of the United States' largest waterfalls, it played a significant role in the early industrial development of New Jersey starting in the earliest days of the nation. The falls and surrounding area are protected as part of the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park, administered by the National Park Service. Congress authorized its establishment in 2009. Excerpt from the Wikipedia article on Great Falls (Passaic River), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Visiting Great Falls

Trip planning

The exact location is at 40.9167°, -74.1817° — open in Google Maps for driving directions from your location.

Before you go: check current conditions with the appropriate land manager — state parks department, U.S. Forest Service ranger district, or National Park Service unit. Trail access, parking, water levels, and seasonal closures all vary. Several waterfalls in our database are seasonal and may run dry between mid-summer and the next rainy season.

If you've visited Great Falls and have current notes (parking situation, dog policy, seasonality, kid-friendliness), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn more.

Stay nearby

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Driving in? The nearest documented metro is New York, NY — 17 miles away (~30 min drive). See accommodation in New York on Booking.com → RoamFound earns a small commission if you book through this link, at no extra cost to you. How we handle affiliate links.

Other waterfalls within 30 miles

16 nearby

Sources

Public data

Location and tag data for Great Falls comes from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL license) ; the Wikipedia article linked above provides additional history. We do not modify the underlying data — this page presents what's already publicly recorded. To suggest corrections, see our methodology page or contact us.