Wheelchair-accessible car park
Yes
Coopers Cave in South Glens Falls
Categories
Location on the map
South Glens Falls, Saratoga County, New York, US
Accessibility
Amenities
Good for kids
Yes
Phone: +1 518-793-1455
Opening hours
- Monday:9AM–8PM
- Tuesday:9AM–8PM
- Wednesday:9AM–8PM
- Thursday:9AM–8PM
- Friday:9AM–8PM
- Saturday:9AM–8PM
- Sunday:9AM–8PM
Coopers Cave in other cities:
Comments (128)
It was pretty underwhelming. The parking was confusing af I wish there was more space to walk around.
The park is open from May-October according to the sign. Its March. 🤦♂️ The gate is locked so Ill have to come back another time. Looks like a nice area so Im looking forward to returning when its open.
Did not know where the cave was once we were on the observation deck. The dam is massive though.
While the area is pleasant for other things such as dining & relaxation, Coopers Cave itself is nothing more than a hole. While history is attached regarding James Cooper, his writings & more specifically, The Last Mohican-- view of the cave is visible from behind metal fencing.
If you love American history you will love this place, it breath taking, it you Glen Falls Cooper’s cave is a must.
Its ok, nothing too spectacular. We were in the area, so we decided to take a look.
An interesting place for a quick stop. The viewing platform has interesting facts about the significance of the island for both the book and the region, and unique views of the Hudson. Limited parking at the bottom for accessibility, so parking at the top and walking down is the best way to go.
Fantastic history lesson. This makes me appreciate the natural places that we have.
Theres a walkway to a platform where you can look out over the river, but you cant actually get to the cave - you cant even see it. Theres a few educational plaques describing Cooper and the cave and a brief history of The Last of the Mohicans. Theres no designated parking (though there is one handicap space at the bottom of the drive).
Very bad navigation system or setup by the local county for this attraction. It’s not that easy to get there.. Also didn’t find that attractive to see (as it was like very small dock on the side of the dam and paper mill company)No parking also nearby to dock. You’ll have to walk further from parking to the place.Hope the county setup better communication and improve the place !!
The viewing platform above the cave offers a close up of the falls, the river and cliffs. You also have a unique view of the paper mills and the penstock area of the hydro generation plant.
I went there today on Sunday march 21 at 3 30 pm and the gate was locked so it was closed and especially when the weather was nice and beautiful it should be open to the public and why isnt the staircase their anymore from the bridge and how come there isnt a landing or some tour guides to show you the history of Coopers cave and the history of the feeder canal and the Hudson River. I am very disappointed in it. Please come to grants cottage it open in may and we will teach you all that you need to know about Grant and what happen to him up on mount mcgregor
Cool little spot with a small waterfall on the Hudson River.
Im seriously sad. This used to be a beautiful spot based on the pictures from a hundred years ago.However this spot like the native American culture has been all but devoured.Kind of unexpected and comical tho.
It is a cool little place. The bridge to the overlook platform was not unlocked when we went, probably due to pandemic. Even so there are signs to read and you get a unique perspective of the falls, power projects and cave. Worth doing.
This cave or a hole? Actually I could not find any such cave at the place where it’s mentioned. There is a very small water fall and a bridge and a small cave type hole. There is an observatory with some history.
Kind of neat to see the history and the dam, but the viewing area is not great. Its very hard to actually get a good view because of all the fencing, the signage is faded, and its pretty smelly. The park next door is great, but walking to the viewing area from there I felt like I was trespassing or something because the signs were not great and you have to walk past the hydro plants delivery bay.
Not worth the trip. What remains of the falls is surrounded by industry; the cave itself not visible. Enjoy the description of the area from James Fenimore Coopers novel.
Interesting spot to visit if you drive by and if you love history and literature. It is a small spot and only good to visit if you are in the area, not to drive specifically. The cave itself is not accessible anymore, but it is still a cool place to stop by to look and to read some historic facts that posted there.
No access to the cave, or to the rocks around the falls. I suppose this is to be expected since it would probably be too dangerous for the general public for most of the year. But the plaques were informative and the view of the falls and the river was fairly nice, albeit very seriously detracted by the surrounding industrial layout.
Very interesting piece of history to view. It is a little unfortunate that the hydroelectric plant is built up around it, but the plant is part of the areas history also. At least they left the area with the cave intact. Has a really nice historical park, too.
Wanted to give this place a second shot after a bad first experience. Despite saying they were open on their website / google they were closed when we got here. I think sadly we dont feel like patronizing here if they cant even get their hours of operation correct.
Unfortunately the bridge to it is blocked, so I couldnt visit it. The signs to coopers cave are vague. At the last spot you can park, a sign points towards it. There are 3 options to walk on. The middle one goes down and is how you usually get to coopers cave.
Why do we follow signs to this place... but there is no parking except for one handicapped space?! What a waste of a long drive only to have nowhere to park and see nothing. At least have a few parking spaces. Otherwise, its a total run down dump of an area... beyond disappointing.
Not a great place with the hydroelectric plant surrounding the area. As many people have stated, if you are passing by, its not a bad place to visit. I would not go more than a few minutes out of the way to see it. There is only handicap parking right by the cave viewing area, but you can park a bit up the road and walk about 5 minutes to see it.
Is supposed to be open 9:00am to 8:00pm May 1st to October 31, but we showed up at 12:15pm on October 5th and the gate to the viewing platform was padlocked for no apparent reason. Why make tourism brochures for something and then cant be bothered to open the gate? Waste of our time.
Nice refreshing spot in history. You wont get to go into the cave, but its nice to visit. Once
Food is good ice cream is awesome will be going back soon.
Always delicious food, well prepared, and nicely presented. All the wait staff are friendly, and they seem to really enjoy working there. Patty, the owner is an awesome person, and is committed to bringing her patrons the best they have.Now, the secret reason I really go?...ICE CREAM. Homemade and absolutely out of this world!
Weve been in the area for 46 years, and had never seen it. My Mom was born in Bolton Landing in 1905 and talked about exploring Coopers Cave. We were showing friends around......and found the lovely park that tells the history there with markers. A must see!
Industry has obscured this site. Its a cool view, worth stopping if youre passing by, no parking down at the site. I wouldnt travel more than 10 minutes out of the way to stop here.
This is a tourist attraction that isnt there. You will not see the cave only the industrialization of the site where it was
Interesting spot for fans of James Fenimore Coopers novel The Last of the Mohicans. There are informational plaques surrounding the area which is a bit hard to find since a hydroelectric company owns the land and its pipes dominate the viewing area. However, with a little imagination, you can see why Cooper was influenced by the falls and the cave, which now lies below the level of the water. There is no access to the falls or the cave, just an industrial bridge from which to take pictures.
2 out of 10. Cant see the cave at all, 2 noisy pulp mills, 1 on each side of the river, tiny water fall on 1 side, and you are surrounded by a huge paper industry with little else to see.
Closed been nice if it was posted.Signage could be a lot better so know were to go.
Come and enjoy history. The nice waterfall views , and Views looking down the river. I only wish that they would allow you to walk on the limestone rocks again.
Great for historical refrence for JF Cooper inspiration for last of the Mohican. A bit anti climatic when you get there surrounded by factories and industry. Very limited parking.
The water was too high, but the view was Amazing
James Fenimore Cooper, an avid outdoorsman and lover of the Adirondacks, wrote the now classic The Last of the Mohicans while camping at this cave.I have complete appreciation for the history of New York and the preservation of important places and landmarks. Unfortunately, this destination did not live up to the hype. It truly lacks in terms of preservation and presentation.I learned of Coopers Cave while staying at the Queensbury in Glens Falls. I learned more about Cooper in the grand hall of the hotel than I did at the actual destination. They also have a wonderful painting in the grand hall depicting Mohican Indians.
You can see caves from the bridge, interesting industrial zone to visit and take some pictures.
You can not actually go to the caves like you used to be able to before national grid power damed the water. Still nice to see from the observation decks.
Cute place for a quick visit. Kid, age 7, loved it.
Cool spot to visit with lots of info on the location, author and history.
We stopped there to see the falls, but they were nowhere to be seen.... maybe we took a wrong turn.
Not clearly marked out, then once I found parking and walked to the exhibit, I was discouraged. ...this is it? I took some photos, and left after 10 minutes.
Awesome piece of history right in our backyard. Definitely take your kids there to see what inspired The Last of the Mohicans.
Beware to those looking for an adventure: Coopers Cave is not an actual cave you can walk up to. It is a relatively small crack in the wall next to a loud factory.
Cool place under a bridge just after a large Dam but the ability to see Coopers dam was really challenging to actually disappointing.
Its a shame you cannot actually enter the cave and on this particular day, the bridge to the viewing area was locked for people safety as the river was high!
A waste of time to see nothing and to park nowhere. It is a trap for tourists! Very disappointing. People don’t go
A factory town killing the world . Theres not a cave theres a factory thats private property. Its a scam and the people are made of dirt.... Also an imposter of big boys called Mr bills.
Great place that we stumbled on while driving through. Love the history of the coopers cave!
The bridge was not open. Bur from both sides of the bridge you can see it all
Very disappointing. You can look at the Falls you can read there postings, but to actually go in the caves not accessible anymore.
Very beautiful place and the store has awesome stuff but everything is a bit pricy there.
Wish theyd open the caves. The falls a nice though
Great example of how industry destroys/pollutes nature...I appreciated the attempt to provide access and visibility to something that once was, but this was sad.
Great for age 10 and up, informational
Couldnt find how to get to it, everything closed..no parking... only signs.
We only went fishing didnt catch anything
Great little hidden spot to visit and get some neat pics.
We went to the directions from the web site. It wasn’t there. So we punched in the address on maos and again it took us to nowhere. Smh
We brought our children to see this but wasnt anything like we remembered as kids. Still very inspiring
We where going over to coppers cave to explore and the road to coppers cave took us to a high voltage electric company
Lived here so long could never find the entrance till recently great place though
Industry overtook the Native Americans I guess. I enjoyed the book better than this place.
Pretty dismal. All industrial, not easy to navigate. Kudos, Cooper!
It looked interesting to go to however it was closed the due to it being a seasonal place.
The place was closed. It is more of a powerplant vs water falls..
Super busy, nice vibe but the staff and kitchen could not keep up
Good frozen water falls in Lake George.
Beautiful, picturesque location.
Too deserted for me but love reading all the facts abt Last of the Mohicans
It was closed still, really wish one of these times it actually be open.....
Great little spot under the bridge
Great spot to see history and the industry of Glens Falls
Cool place when you have some free time.
Historic place. Wish you could get closer. Steep hill
We visited with family and history is very relevant for this location.
Very interesting historic spot and hydroelectric plant
I love it so much fun with my family
Its a great view of the Hudson River
Cool industrial scene but bring earplugs.
Glenn fall. I wouldnt call it a tourist attraction.
So nice me and my husband go weekly
Besides the Mills being in the way... Its Sooo meditating
Love spending time here. Alone with my man,
There is nothing. Don’t follow the maps.
Very clean and beautiful park
Closed couldnt see much of the fall
It was amazing,recommend for people to see it.
Interesting story about this site. Check it out.
Just a water fall not a big deal
I love sitting and watching the water
Beautiful
The main section is closed.
Neat spot
Closed. Never saw it
Not really much to see
Its where I proposed to my girlfriend
Nice piece of history
Disappointing!
I expected more out of it.
Not what I had expected
Nothing much to enjoy
Not a lot there.
UglySmells bad
Great beer
Wonderful
Good
Beautiful
Owesome
Overrated and smells
Waste of time
Dissapointed.
Local History
This is just a dam of water .. that very possible the same people have vandalized .. it has a lot of fences to avoid and other restrictions ..
Naaaaaah good!
Total reviews rating 3.6
128 Reviews for Coopers Cave 2023:
Review №1
2021-08-23My advice: look at other folks pictures of this and visit someplace else.The city has successfully turned a silk purse into a sows ear by making the cave completely inaccessible and surrounding it with a wall and high railings which would rival a maximum security prison. The rails are so close together that a camera lens will barely pass between, making angles a no-no and a decent shot nigh impossible. The famous front end of the cave has no visual access whatsoever except from the viaduct above.The falls are controlled by local industry and even the impressive viaduct has the wall and even higher railings, once again, making photography very difficult since one cannot even hold the camera high enough to shoot over the top. In fact, the railings are so close together that viewing can essentially only be done with one eye at a time.About protecting idiots from jumping off high bridges into raging torrents, I have this to say: I am not my brothers keeper, and Darwin was right.
Review №2
2022-05-15I little difficult to get to but a good find. Parts of a great movie was filmed there and a lot of history signage to read.
Review №3
2021-10-21Interesting little historical treasure. The waterfalls are pretty cool and the observation area had alot of good information. The park is a nice quiet area and would have liked to walk through the museum but unfortunately it was closed.
Review №4
2019-07-06This local natural attraction is hard to find underneath the shadow of the hydroelectric plant. The waterfalls are probably beautiful, but you cant see them because theres several layers of chain link ruining the view. Not very kid friendly - its all faded signage and rusty fencing. Theres no amenities, no bathrooms, no seating, no water, no playgrounds. Go there if you want to check a box or if you really think hydro plants are very cool, but theres not much else to see.
Review №5
2021-08-14Very bad navigation system setup to get close with this placeCounty should improve further and provide better boards setup (explaining about drive , parking and additional details)No parking near the attraction spot.. you’ll have to park in sand mulch land and walk few meters to reach the spotAttraction is like kind of docking small area , view the falls (it’s actually water flowing from dam or hydraulic plant nearby ) and then few boards setupInitially we got confused to get into other side of attraction spot - which is paper companyBe careful and navigate crossing the bridge to get into coopers cave spot parking (cross bridge -> Turn right -> you’ll be able to see the board -> park very next right side area) .. walk from there inside to dock spot to see it
Review №6
2021-08-06It was pretty cool but Google maps did not give proper directions to the site. You need to go under the bridge to get there.
Review №7
2020-03-05Beautiful frozen falls, come here for work from Florida. What a temperature change!! Liked to have froze to death, but very pretty.
Review №8
2021-07-06Great view of the falls and the hydroelectric power plant located just outside of downtown Glens Falls.
Review №9
2018-05-08Outstanding place for night Photography. Steam coming out of every nook and cranny at night, wonderful objects. Its all...err.. water vapor. :-) Interesting background, but, unfortunately, they dont let people go into the actual cave, which is below the observation platform. Not as interesting during the day.
Review №10
2019-05-27I loved seeing the falls, which Ive never seen because the bridge over the Hudson river blocks the view. Along with that I got to see what is considered Coopers Cave. Several possibilities of what it might be, actuality, since it is a literary fiction and there are several cashes there that he might have been referring to. The dam used for producing hydro electric power is pretty neat too. The two pipes used to carry the water for power generation are huge! There are many plaques that tell about the area.