Awhile back I read an article entitled "New Jersey's Bucket List" and it was exactly what you would expect it to be - a list of shit to do in New Jersey before you die. Most of it was either stuff I had no interest in or stuff I've already done. The one that really got me was number 10 "Visit the Great Falls in Paterson". I didn't know much about Paterson except 1. It was hood. I mean the movie Lean On Me was about Paterson's Eastside High School. 2. The Colt revolver was invented there. That's right, the gun that won the West was invented in a cold, hard industrial city right in our backyard. 3. They had falls. Great ones apparently. Well leave it to the boardem of unemployment and the suggestion of a magazine and next thing you know I'm on Rt. 80 following signs for downtown Paterson one day to check it out. When I got off the exit I realized some stuff. Number 1 - I was correct about number 1, it WAS hood(at least hood looking, a Colt probably would've calmed my nerves) and Number 2 - there are falls and they're great. I parked in the lot at 65 McBride Ave and checked out the statues, plaques and monuments (you can actually ring the bell, you'll see) they have describing the Falls and the factories that helped shape New Jersey's third largest city. Then walk across the street to the foot bridge that crosses right over the falls. From here you can see the 77 foot drop into the Passaic River and get a good look at the mills that have powered Paterson since 1793. Continue across the bridge and down the path and you'll find a set of stairs that will give you a different view of the falls. After that you can go to Libby's (98 McBride Ave), one of the state's many legendary Hot Dog joints. That's it, there doesn't seem like a lot of things to do in Paterson and if there are I didn't want to find em. But the Falls are great and I agree with the author of the article that it should be on everyone's New Jersey bucket list. Two suggestions I have are go during the day and don't go alone.
The Jersey Jumper
Sam Patch came to Paterson to work in one of the many factories that surrounded the Falls in his early twenties. One day he decided he would jump from rocky cliffs into the turbulent waters below, all 77 ft of it. On Sept. 30, 1827 a large crowd gathered to see the new Chasm Bridge open and Sam took the leap and lived to tell about it(he actually made the jump several times). He later was quoted by the papers as saying "There's no mistake in Sam Patch". The Jersey Jumper was born. Almost a year later he jumped from a mast of a ship that was 90 ft high into the Hudson for a huge crowd gathered on the Hoboken waterfront. Sam gained fame and fortune jumping from bridges and cliffs, and in 1829 made his most famous leap - over Niagara Falls. This guy jumped Niagara Falls. That's pretty badass. His next stunt didn't end so well though. He tried his luck by jumping the 125 ft high cliffs of the Genesee River (Rochester, NY) and died when, according to an autopsy, he suffered a ruptured blood vessel caused by the cold water. That's how the Jersey Jumper's life ended but his legacy will live on forever.
