Field NotesOhio
Upper Falls in the Old Man's Cave gorge, Hocking Hills, with visitors on the rocks

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Old Man's Cave, Hocking Hills · Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Berea Falls

Berea · Cuyahoga County
Two tier urban falls over Berea sandstone, below three overhead bridges
25 ftheight
Easywalk

A small urban waterfall tucked beneath three bridges in Rocky River Reservation, easy to reach from a small trailside parking area.

Height
About 25 feet across two main drops
Trail
Short walk from parking to an overlook
Managed by
Cleveland Metroparks
Best time
After rain and in spring
Fee
Free
Geology
Berea sandstone over shale

When it flows

A small tributary of Rocky River, so it runs best after rain and in spring and can drop to a thin trickle in a dry summer; it freezes into ice in cold weather.

The story

Berea Falls formed by the same process that made Berea sandstone famous: after glaciers retreated, meltwater found cracks in the hard sandstone cap and seeped into the softer shale beneath it, eroding the shale until blocks of the sandstone fractured off and fell away, a process that continues slowly today. The exposed sandstone here is the same layer quarried just a short distance away in downtown Berea.

Starting in the early 1840s, Berea founder John Baldwin developed a lathe for cutting the local sandstone into grindstones, and Berea stone went on to become internationally known for sharpening tools and for building stone used across the country. The quarries employed generations of English, Scottish, German, Irish, and Polish immigrant workers until synthetic grinding wheels and modern cement largely replaced the trade by the 1940s. Cleveland Metroparks later folded this stretch of the Rocky River gorge, including the falls, into Rocky River Reservation, one of the system's oldest holdings.

Rocky River Reservation is not one of the park ids in the allowed list, so it is not included in the parks array even though the falls is inside it.

Stay behind railings and on marked trails. Wet rock at the top and base of a falls is slick in every season, and most Ohio falls do not allow swimming, wading or climbing. Flow depends on rain: many falls are a trickle in late summer and at their best after a wet spell, in spring, or frozen in a hard winter.

Visiting information you can trust

Content last reviewed
September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source
Official page
Location confidence
Verified property location
Published coordinates for the falls or its trailhead
Check current conditions
Official conditions or closures

Prices, hours, closures, campsite availability and trail conditions shown elsewhere on this page are not live — always confirm with the official source before you go.

Getting to the falls

A short walk from a small parking area to an overlook that looks down on the falls and the gorge, with no descent required to see it.

Status
Open
Hours
6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily
Cost
Free
Phone
216-635-3200
Managed by
Cleveland Metroparks
Please note
Stay on the overlook and marked trail, no swimming, dogs must be leashed
Address
Valley Parkway near Berea Falls Scenic Overlook, Berea, OH 44017 (Rocky River Reservation)
Official page →DirectionsShow on the map

Trails close for repairs, ice and high water. Check the official page before a long drive.

More falls nearby

East Falls and West Falls of the Black River
About 13 miles · 30 to 35 ft
Open
Bridal Veil Falls
About 16 miles · 20 ft
Open
Great Falls of Tinkers Creek
About 17 miles · 15 to 20 ft
Open
Blue Hen Falls
About 17 miles · 15 ft
Open

Parks nearby

Hinckley Reservation
About 14 miles · Cleveland Metroparks reservation
Open
Brecksville Reservation
About 15 miles · Cleveland Metroparks reservation
Open
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
About 18 miles · National park
Open

Details last checked 2026-09-22. Confirm hours and prices before you go.

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