Field Notes Ohio

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117 parks in 7 regions

Paine Falls

Leroy Township · Lake County

Plunge falls over a shale and sandstone ledge on Paine Creek

25 ftheight

Easywalk

Visiting information you can trust

Check before driving — this site is seasonal, approximate, privately run, or otherwise uncertain. Confirm hours and access with the official source above.

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: Approximate — boundary or exact point not confirmed
Approximate location, use the address or 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.

A 25 foot waterfall on Paine Creek viewed from a rim trail in a quiet Lake Metroparks preserve east of Painesville.

Height: About 25 feet
Trail: Rim trail with overlook points, no route to the base
Managed by: Lake Metroparks
Best time: After rain and during spring snowmelt
Fee: Free
Park size: 377 acres

When it flows

Best after rain and during spring snowmelt; Paine Creek's flow can drop noticeably in a dry summer, and the falls develops ice formations in winter.

The story

Paine Falls drops over interbedded shale and sandstone in the Paine Creek valley, a smaller tributary system east of the Grand River that was shaped by the same glacial meltwater erosion common across northeastern Ohio. The gorge's layered rock exposes a cross section of Devonian and Mississippian era sediment typical of the Lake Erie shore counties.

Colonel Hendrick Paine settled this valley in 1818, and by 1840 the community known as Paine's Hollow supported an iron forge and furnace, a tannery, a shoemaker, a blacksmith shop, and a wagon maker, all powered in part by the creek. As the surrounding forest was cleared and industry shifted away from small water powered shops, the settlement declined and was largely abandoned by the early 1900s. The site was known locally for a time as Bakers Falls before Lake Metroparks acquired and dedicated it as Paine Falls Park in 1974, preserving the gorge and its industrial era ruins.

Coordinates are approximate, taken from a third party waterfall database rather than an official Lake Metroparks source.

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.