Location: North central Monroe County, in the City Of Rochester. Parking is available at the Maplewood Park Rose Garden located at 28 Driving Park Avenue.
Located on the eastern side of the parking lot for the Maplewood Park Rose Garden, near the restroom building, is a stairway leading down to a trail. Follow this trail southwards, and soon you will pass under the Driving Park Avenue Bridge. In a short distance you will be able to see the Lower Falls. The trail soon merges with the road in Lower Falls Park. Continue along the road to a viewing area above the crest of the Lower Falls. Further along the road you will come to a viewing area for the Middle Falls/Dam. The Middle Falls/Dam is a 20-foot high natural waterfall with a dam built on its crest. The dam is used to hold back water and divert it to the power plant on the eastern flank of the Lower Falls.
From the viewing area for the Middle Falls/Dam, turn northwards, following the road going uphill. At the top of the hill you will reach Driving Park Avenue. Turn right (east) and walk along the sidewalk to the middle of the Driving Park Avenue Bridge. Standing in the middle of the bridge you are about 200 feet above the Genesee River, which was known to the Seneca Indians as “Casconchiagon” --- “the river of falls” or “river of many falls”. This is the best view of the Lower Falls, which is about 600 feet to the south. The falls faces northwest, and is 110 feet high with a 276 foot wide crest. The building on the eastern flank of the falls is a power plant. The falls is a complex curtain falls, with the eastern half of the falls being overhung, while the western half is a steeply terraced cascade.
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