Between Youngstown And Pittsburgh Is Pennsylvania's Under-The-Radar Nature Preserve With A Scenic Waterfall

You don't need to go far outside of Pittsburgh to immerse yourself in nature. While it's best known as a Rust Belt city, with landmarks like Carrie Blast Furnaces that preserve its industrial heritage, it's also the largest city in Appalachia, situated on the Allegheny Plateau and surrounded by rolling hills and forests. That opens up lots of opportunities for outdoor adventures right in the city and puts more secluded natural landscapes in easy reach, like the tree-covered sandstone cliffs of Buttermilk Falls Park.

Buttermilk Falls is in Beaver County, about a 40-minute drive north of downtown Pittsburgh and just outside the small town of Homewood. Its location right off the Pennsylvania Turnpike makes it very easy to find. Its entrance is directly across Route 18 from the southbound Beaver Falls exit (if you're coming from Pittsburgh, turn left after your exit, and it'll be the first right turn just past the turnpike).

One thing to note if you're navigating with GPS — this isn't the only Buttermilk Falls in Western Pennsylvania. There is a larger waterfall with the same name in Indiana County, about 60 miles west of Pittsburgh near the artsy and historic city of Johnstown. Because of that, you'll sometimes hear the Beaver County one referred to as Homewood Falls to differentiate it, a name taken from the sandstone quarry that once operated at the site.

You won't need to hike for very long to reach the waterfall from either of the two parking lots in the Buttermilk Falls Natural Area. The lower lot is near the turn from Route 18, and it's the closest to the waterfall's base, which is only about a 250-yard trek away. If that lot is full, you can continue up 1st Avenue to the parking lot near Homewood Methodist Church. You can also get a top-down view of the waterfall from near the church. Just follow the sign reading "Buttermilk Falls & Picnic Area" in the church parking lot to the upper trail, which offers a clear side view of the falls and takes visitors right up to the water (with no guardrails in between, so be very careful if you walk the whole way up to the edge).

The path to the waterfall's base isn't strenuous, but it's also not completely flat. There are a few inclines with railroad tie steps and some spots on the path where you'll need to step over rocks or fallen trees, which keeps it from being fully wheelchair accessible. Most visitors, however, will reach the base of Buttermilk Falls in just a few minutes. The path runs along the right side of Clarks Run, the Beaver River tributary that flows over the falls, and you can see some smaller waterfalls as a kind of preview along the way.

The main attraction is Buttermilk Falls itself, a 40-foot cascade into a pool that's suitable for swimming in the summer. A rock ledge runs from the path behind the falls, making this one of the few waterfalls in Western Pennsylvania that you can see from the back side (just keep in mind that the rocks are wet and can get slippery).

The name Buttermilk Falls dates back to the 1870s, when a group of Civil War veterans came to the falls for a picnic and toasted the occasion with their drink of choice, buttermilk. The waterfall's other name, Homewood Falls, comes from the Homewood Quarry, a sandstone quarry that was active in the late 19th century, following the construction of a railroad line through the area in 1852. Stone from the quarry was used in projects across the region, from roads and bridges to the Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh. The waterfall served as a source of power for the quarry while it was active.

Work at the quarry petered out in the 1870s, and though it briefly restarted in 1902, it has sat abandoned since. You can see the quarry's ruins along the trail to the bottom of the falls, and the rock faces along the path still have visible traces of the tools used to extract the stone. If you look closely, some stones are carved with legible words that date to the late 19th century. The county took over preservation of the site in the early 2000s, bestowing it with the official name Buttermilk Falls Natural Area and adding trail improvements like signs and railings.

Visitors with an interest in history will find other landmarks worth checking out near the falls. There are several old railroad bridges in the area, including one that crosses Clarks Run just upstream from the waterfall that is visible from both the upper and lower paths. Above the falls, you can also see traces of the Harmony Short Line, a streetcar line that operated until 1931. You can even explore the nearby town of Homewood, a once-bustling railroad town founded in 1859 that is today a quiet village of about 100 people.