Green Jersey

Paterson’s Great Falls named national historic park

Paterson's falls now a bigger deal. Photos by Jennifer Weiss.

Paterson’s Great Falls received national park status today as President Obama signed a sweeping public lands bill into law.

The falls become New Jersey’s third national historic park, joining the park in Morristown where the Continental army camped during the winter of 1779-1780 and the Edison National Historical Site in West Orange, whose designation was altered by this bill to include the inventor’s home and nearby laboratory.

The legislation, the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, was a victory for conservationists. It set aside 2 million more acres around the country for public wilderness areas, designated more than 1,000 miles of waterways scenic rivers and added more land for national trails, among other things.

Toby Crane of Manhattan, in Paterson on Friday to check on a building he owns, said the falls were particularly special to his family. His son walked for the first time without help on the bridge at the falls.

“I think it will bring more people,” he said of the status upgrade. “To me, the falls are really interesting and overlooked by Patersonians. A lot of them don’t know it’s there.”

“It’s impressive,” said Sam Goertz, who was visiting the falls for the first time with his daughter Caroline. “It’s bigger than I thought. I didn’t realize it would be this much.” Goertz said his family would be coming back for picnics.

Paterson Councilman Andre Sayegh (Sixth Ward) said on Friday the national park status wasn’t a cure-all, “but it will be the shot in the arm that this city sorely needs.” Sayegh said it would open the doors for development like cafes and maybe a theater.

More than 200 years ago, a young Alexander Hamilton looked at the falls and saw the country’s industrial future. The water powered mills that helped make Paterson a manufacturing mecca known for silks, guns, locomotive parts and other products.

The falls are also just plain impressive to behold, especially considering their location in New Jersey’s third largest city. They inspired William Carlos Williams to write in “Paterson”:

…they coalesce now/ glass-smooth with their swiftness,/ quiet or seem to quiet as at the close/ they leap to the conclusion and/ fall, fall in air! as if/ floating, relieved of their weight,/ split apart, ribbons; dazed, drunk/ with the catastrophe of the descent/ floating unsupported/ to hit the rocks: to a thunder,/ as if lightning had struck.

The national park designation will eventually mean an infusion of federal funds, and more visitors.

Earlier: Paterson’s Great Falls closing in on national park status (Green Jersey)