Welcome to Whirlpool State Park

Established in 1928, Whirlpool State Park's 109 acres support a variety of flora and fauna and provide opportunities for cycling, fishing, hiking bird watching, and picnicking. Approximately three miles of hiking trails include a rim trail with many scenic overlooks and spectacular views of the Niagara Gorge, Whirlpool, and Whirlpool Rapids, reached by descending the stone stairway located downriver from Whirlpool Point. In the mid-1850s, Samuel DeVeaux built a school for orphans and destitute children on land adjacent to the present-day park, and the school collected fees from visitors who came to DeVeaux Point to view the Whirlpool and rapids; in 1858, part of the property was sold to the Buttery family. In the 1850s, J. M. Buttery owned a nearby sawmill from which visitors could view the rapids atop a rickety stairway, but when the site became a popular tourist destination he abandoned his mill and built a newer and safer stairway. In 1869, he constructed the Buttery Elevators along the Whirlpool Rapids; the property was eventually sold and a new set of elevators was built in 1893. In 1899, a windstorm blew down the original elevator building, and a rockslide almost completely destroyed the machinery in the newer elevator building. In 1901, the city of Niagara Falls burned the newer elevator building in a controlled fire. Workers later constructed the bed for the Great Gorge Route trolley line, and an electric trolley line ran in the Niagara Gorge from 1895 to 1935, first on the New York side between Niagara Falls and Lewiston, then after 1899 over the Lewiston-Queenston Suspension Bridge into Canada, along the gorge rim to Niagara Falls, Ontario, and back to New York on the Upper Steel Arch Bridge. Today, many Niagara Gorge trails follow the Great Gorge Route once traveled by the trolleys. The aero car, designed by a Spanish engineer, was built in 1913 by the Niagara Spanish Aero Car Company and opened to the public in 1916; suspended on six interlocking steel cables, it travels between two points on the Canadian side of the gorge and offers bird's-eye views of the whirlpool. The narrow width of the gorge, the rapid descent of the river, and the volume of water all contribute to the 22 mph speed of the water at the Whirlpool Rapids, which are thirty-five feet deep, Class VI, unnavigable, and considered among the most dangerous in the world.

Niagara Falls, New York · United States