Jay Fagan

We mostly speak about luxury in terms of material things. A big house, a drop-dead stop, the traffic car, the sort of watch we probably don’t want to wear in the city at night. Jewels, paintings. Maybe a yacht with a helicopter pad. That sort of thing.

But there are other kinds of luxury that are available not only to those who invested early in Bit-coin; silence on a moonlit night; freedom to walk either alone or with a loved-one; seeing Sir Simon Rattle performing Mahler’s 9th at the Albert Hall; watching your child play; watching your dog play.

For me, I realised one of my own ideas of luxury in a surprising place – Niagara Falls State Park, New York.  Ok, stay with me here. I’m not talking just about The Falls – amazing as they are. No, I’m talking about over 1000 miles of almost deserted trails. From experience you can walk for an hour without seeing another soul. When you do meet someone, again in my experience, they are delighted to stop a bit, take a sip of water together, share experiences, the wildlife they have seen – even maybe a warning that the terrain ahead is a bit sharp.

This is Niagara Falls.  So let’s talk about the trek downstream from the Falls themselves. By the way that is “Falls” as in there are three of them, entirely separate from each other but all coming together to form the Whirlpools. The Whirlpool State Park walk follows the “Class Six” rapids – some of the most violent in North America. The hike offers a couple of options – I’d recommend doing a blend of both. Start high up above the Niagara River for not just amazing views but also the smell and noise of the churning waters below. Then take a (pretty steep) stone staircase three hundred feet past huge and ancient boulders of dark rock down to the side of the river itself. Down here the water is turquoise in colour and the speed simply startling.

My other favourite is the Erie Canal Towpath. Who knew that the Erie Canal was perhaps the greatest man-made waterway in North America? That it opened up the West of the Country and sparked the development of New York as one of the world’s great cities?

The original canal was about 350 miles from the Hudson River over the Appalachian mountains to the Great Lakes. It is estimated that its construction – ferociously opposed by President Thomas Jefferson who, apparently, called its construction “little short of madness” – cost about $200m (today’s value) which sounds like the bargain of a lifetime.

I’m not suggesting you walk the length of the Erie Canal. But if you go to Lockport, a town around a flight of five locks, you can see the engineering required to lift a huge body of water over a break in a mountain range to change forever the character of the United States. You can take boat rides, hire cycles or just walk in either direction as the mood takes you. Not sure if it is true but one oldster I talked to in Lockport told me that Manchester’s Bridgewater Canal was like a Bible to the constructors and that they went all the way to Ireland to find men with the energy and skill to build the causeway.

These trails – and there are many more – are just a start in seeing Niagara in a new way. Not as a tourist but as a participant. If you are used to traditional 5 Star luxury the accommodation may not be for you. There is no Ritz Carlton, no Savoy, just a few slightly upmarket hotels which are comfortable but certainly not lux. But luxury can be a state of mind, yes? I’ve eaten and slept with nomads in Wadi Rum, Aqaba, Jordan and, as the orange sun went down on the golden brown desert, thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Been in the main square in Marrakesh watching the snake charmers and listening to the trumpets’ swirling notes – before driving my hire car, completely lost, into the Souk itself and regarding luxury as not getting arrested for being where I shouldn’t be. Walked up a steep hill to the top of an island in the Caribbean to find Billy Preston playing the blues by himself on a grand piano. As they say it’s not always the destination, it can be the journey.

So why on earth did I find luxury near a waterfall? First you need to understand that Niagara Falls has two completely different personalities. I stayed on the New York State side of the river Niagara. There is a very different experience to be had on the Canadian side. Canada is more commercial and might be more attractive to so many people’s taste. I’m not being judgmental here, just talking about my experiences on the American side. If I wanted casinos and gambling I’d probably go to Vegas. My idea of a good time is the unexpected little jewels that travelling brings.

So, when I discovered that just a 20 minutes drive from The Falls (USA) you could visit the only surviving Carrousel manufacturing location in the world, I was in a taxi within minutes

Sitting on a wooden horse on a Carrousel listening to a genuine Wurlitzer Organ unleashed my inner 7 year old. To be fair it’s been a while since I last rode a wooden horse listening to a mighty organ but it brought a few moments of pure joy and reflection. Where did all that innocence go? Based in the original Herschell factory, the traditional skills are still deployed by, mainly, volunteers who do everything by hand. As for the Wurlitzer, again Herschell is the only place that not only has many, many original scores but also has the only remaining – well I’d call it a printer – capable of producing new music or replacing worn-out oldies.  This is the only museum of its type in the world and a completely unrepeatable experience.

Freedom is a luxury to many people so another surprise was to learn that the Niagara River below the falls was probably the place where the greatest number of enslaved people in North America escaped to Freedom. Head into town to check out the Underground Railroad Heritage Center. 

Recently brought to public perception by the film Harriet, the museum tells the story of the escape routes for slaves to reach freedom and the “conductors” on that railway including Harriet Tubman. My guide was Saladin Allah a third generation grandson of Josiah Henson the famous Underground Railway Conductor freedom seeker who also inspired  Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Saladin continues Josiah Henson’s legacy of youth education and the truth-telling of African American history to this day. 

But of course no-one goes to Niagara Falls without seeing the Falls themselves. My room at the Niagara Hilton Doubletree looked directly out to the Niagara River maybe half a mile from the cataracts themselves. The pace of the river is mesmerising as hundreds of thousands of gallons of water rush past. Demand from a power station up-stream influences the volume and when I woke up most days the turbulence was noticeably less than when I returned after breakfast. In these safety conscious times it is remarkable that the river bank allows direct entrance to the water. As you walk through the astonishing Parkland – established in 1885, Niagara is the oldest state park in America – alongside the close-enough-to-touch river, the volume of the crashing plunge to come increases with every yard. Wildlife in the park includes Canada Geese and at least one baby deer which leapt out of a thicket.

Up rooted trees are visible in the torrent and back eddies create a spume of mist that in the early morning can obscure the view of the opposite river bank. Finally, turn a corner and there it is – perhaps the most famous waterfall in the world! Or rather waterfalls……..

The Horseshoe, American and Bridal Veil falls are distinct, separate and gigantic torrents. In total the three falls discharge 757,500 gallons of water every second! The power of the spectacle is awe inspiring. Time to get closer, much closer.

Take a lift down to a platform below and board one of the legendary Maids of the Mist wearing the obligatory plastic water protection, supposed to be head to foot but in reality powerless against the power of the water about to be encountered. On the top deck of the Maid it appears to go almost inside the falling water, the noise is all-but deafening, the sheer power humbling.

And there is another highlight yet to come. A ten-minute walk leads to the Cave of the Winds on Bridal Veil Falls where a wooden walkway leads to a platform where visitors can stand directly under the waterfall – and touch the water!  All but 80,000 gallons of water a second pass within inches of your head while you reach out your hand and become part of the river. Finally, when darkness falls, watch a spectacular light show over the Falls.

Truly memorable – and a luxury to me at least.

Getting to Niagara Falls USA

By Air

The Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF) is just a 25-mile ride to and from downtown Niagara Falls, NY.

From the UK, fly with airlines including JetBlue, BA, KLM and Virgin Atlantic.

By Train

The Amtrak Niagara Falls Station (NFL) is located less than five miles from Niagara Falls State Park and downtown Niagara Falls, NY. The station is served by the Empire Service and Maple Leaf train, connecting the region to the east coast and Canada.