Glens Falls/Chepontuc

Glens Falls/Chepontuc. . , Glens Falls , Although the founding fathers laid out Glen Falls a half mile to the north, their new village flourished at the foot of the hill. Abraham Wing built the first commercial enterprise in 1765, a combination tavern, inn, and store on the corner of the present Warren and Ridge Streets., Power generated from the falls was harnessed on both sides of the Hudson River. By 1830, the Glens Falls Feeder Canal offered economical shipping and industries prospered. The sawmill, gristmill, lime kilns, and black marble quarry near this spot were consolidated under The Glens Falls Company, later purchased by Samuel Pruyn and Jeremiah and Daniel Finch. Today Finch Paper LLC continues to manufacture fine printing paper., The old Wing sawmill washed away in the flood of 1869. Later, a dam which spanned the entire Hudson River was built. A modern replacement of that Glens Falls dam was completed in 1994., Chepontuc , The Native Americans called this site Chepontuc, "a difficult place to get around” because of the rocky falls that were 56 feet high. In 1763 Abraham Wing and other settlers of the Queensbury Patent quickly recognized the power of the waterfalls. Abe Wing dammed the Hudson River and built a sawmill with 14 saws where the Finch Paper LLC lawn and parking area are today. The community was originally known as Wing's Falls, but it was later changed to Glens Falls after Col. Johannes Glen, a prominent property owner. The world famous Cooper's Cave, a setting in the James Fenimore Cooper novel, The Last of the Mohicans, is located at the rock formation below the bridge. An earlier covered bridge with a toll house once spanned the river here., Theses pictures display the falls on the Hudson River between Glens Falls and South Glens Falls. The falls are now only visible during spring high-water season.