Buttermilk Falls
If you're passing
Is it plungeworthy?
A 3-tier tiered on Hancock Brook.
The details
- Tiers
- 3 drops
- Type
- Tiered
- Watercourse
- Hancock Brook
- Coordinates
- 41.64407, -73.00671
About Buttermilk Falls
Buttermilk Falls is a tiered in Connecticut, on Hancock Brook. The water falls in 3 distinct tiers.
It's fullest after rain, and flow can drop off during dry spells — plan around recent weather.
Plungeworthy rates Buttermilk Falls 4.2/10 — if you're passing. The score weighs its scale, how confidently it's mapped, and its character.
What you'll find
Buttermilk Falls in Plymouth is the Litchfield Hills' quiet stunner — Hancock Brook sliding 55 to 60 feet down three mossy tiers through a hemlock ravine, on a Nature Conservancy preserve threaded by the blue-blazed Mattatuck Trail.
Connecticut has more than one Buttermilk Falls — the other well-known one, in Norfolk, is a smaller 20-footer on Blackberry Creek. This is the big one: the Plymouth/Terryville falls, and it's not close.
The walk is short — four-tenths of a mile with about 85 feet of gain — and stays open year-round: when Lane Hill Road closes in winter, the trailhead is only 500 feet past the closure gate, making this one of the state's best ice-formation walks.
Getting there
- Trailhead
- Mattatuck Trail pull-off, Lane Hill Road, Plymouth (Terryville)
- Parking
- Small roadside pull-off, free
- Road
- Lane Hill Road — paved; closed in winter but the trailhead is a 500-foot walk from the gate
- Hike
- 0.8 mi round trip, 85 ft of climb (Moderate — short but rooty and slick near the tiers)
- Heads up
- The Nature Conservancy property; trail maintained by CT Forest & Park Association volunteers.
When to go
Spring and after rain for the full three-tier slide; deep winter for the ice columns. Summer reduces it to an elegant trickle.
Rules & fees
- Fee / pass
- Free
- Warnings
- Mossy rock at every tier — the slide is not a walkway.
Researched from CTMQ — Buttermilk Falls, Plymouth · Scenic USA — Buttermilk Falls. Conditions change — verify before you drive. Been to Buttermilk Falls recently? Post a conditions report below.
Where it is
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Buttermilk Falls doesn't have a photo yet. If you make the trip, send one to hello@plungeworthy.com and we'll publish it here with credit to you.
Before you go
The pin marks the feature, not a trailhead or a legal route in. Some sit on private land or need a real hike, and conditions change with season and rain. Check local access, don't trespass, and never enter water — hot or cold — where it isn't safe.
Common questions
Where is Buttermilk Falls?
Buttermilk Falls is a waterfall in Connecticut, at 41.64407, -73.00671.
Is Buttermilk Falls worth visiting?
If you're passing — Plungeworthy rates it 4.2/10.
Gear for the trip
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