Darnley Cascade #071205

(see also Crooks Hollow #071014)

Alternate Names: Stutt’s Falls, Crook’s Hollow Falls

Creek: Spencer Creek

Classification: Cascade

Height: 4 metres/13 feet

Width: 22 metres/72 feet

Cultural History:

An interesting fact about the Darnley Cascade; at 225 metres above sea level, it’s at the highest elevation of any waterfall in the area. But at 4 metres it also has one of the smallest drops.

Darnley Cascade is located in Crooks Hollow, founded by James Crooks, a Scottish immigrant who came to the area in 1805. The Hollow had its industrial beginnings in 1801, when Jonathan Morden built a sawmill on Spencer Creek. James Crooks built the area’s first gristmill, completed in 1813, and named it after his hero, Lord Darnley. By 1829, this area contained the Darnley gristmill and buildings such as a woollen mill, tannery, a distillery, linseed oil mill, cooperage, a general store, clothing factory, foundry, paper mill, agricultural implement factory, log cabins for workers and an inn. The cascade was named after the Darnley Mill, which was destroyed by fire in 1934, leaving only the ruins.

As you look upstream from Crooks Hollow Road, with the mill to your left, you will be able to see the cascade, signs of the former James Crooks dam and the mill race. In the background is the present-day Christie Dam and Reservoir.