24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in High Falls, NY

High Falls is a hamlet and census-designated place in Ulster County, New York, with portions in the towns of Marbletown and Rosendale, and it takes its name from the waterfall where Rondout Creek cuts through a large rock formation.

The 2020 census counted 700 people in High Falls, up from 627 residents — in 271 households — at the 2000 census.

Even before the canal arrived, an early 19th-century cotton and woolen factory made High Falls a small center of local manufacturing for the surrounding farms.

The opening of the Delaware and Hudson Canal in 1828 transformed High Falls into a bustling industrial hamlet, because the canal crossed Rondout Creek here on a large aqueduct designed by John A. Roebling and climbed through seven locks, numbers 14 through 20, in and around the hamlet.

Natural cement discovered at nearby Rosendale during the canal's construction added to High Falls' importance, since the cement works needed the mill power of Rondout Creek.

After the canal ceased operations in 1899, the construction of the Ashokan Reservoir and its aqueduct in the early 20th century brought a measure of economic revival to High Falls.

The 21-acre High Falls Historic District, centered on the hamlet's downtown along NY Route 213 and Main Street, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998, and the canal's High Falls locks form part of the Delaware and Hudson Canal National Historic Landmark designated in 1966.

The D&H Canal Historical Society, based in High Falls, runs a canal museum and maintains the Five Locks Walk, a half-mile towpath trail past locks 16 through 20, which were rebuilt in 1850 out of Shawangunk conglomerate to handle larger canal boats.

The stone Jacob DePuy House, built in 1797 and expanded in the mid-19th century, survives from High Falls' pre-canal era and retains much of its original fabric.