Niagara Falls has been known across the world for the past three hundred years as a top tourist destination. The beauty of the Falls themselves along with the history, fascinating natural features, sights and of course the almost countless man-made attractions make Niagara Falls top tourist destination in the northeast and a world class destination point.

Niagara Falls Top Tourist Destination

To reinforce what everyone who has visited Niagara Falls already knows, publications like Travel and Leisure Magazine, Forbes Magazine and web site Hotwire.com have all recently ranked Niagara Falls among the top eight most popular destinations in the world

These rankings have come from a combination 0f data from various organizations, publications and news organizations who track tourist attendance figures to come up with the annual lists. Yet, all one need do is travel to Niagara Falls on a warm summer night and see thousands of people lining both sides of the Niagara Gorge to know this spot ranks among the most popular.

Beautiful illuminated American Falls

Niagara Falls Earns Ranking

Niagara Falls has been ranked among such tourist destination points as Las Vegas Strip, Union Station in Washington D.C., Central Park in New York City and Times Square. The combined cities of Niagara Falls Canada and New York have a yearly combined visitation at more than 22 million last year.

The increased security procedures and identification policy at the Canadian/American border since 9/11 have not greatly affected tourist visitation. Niagara Falls continues to enchant and attract those who visit this natural wonder and keeps them coming back for more.

Niagara Falls a top tourist destination? You bet and the growth in the tourist trade around the Falls demonstrates that the interest is only growing. Niagara Falls will continue to thrill and mesmerize as long as people enjoy seeing God’s work on this earth.

USA Today Bucket List

Niagara Falls USA and Canada made the USA Today Bucket List of U.S Monuments and Landmarks in a feature named 10 best bucket-list U.S. monuments and landmarks.

The USA Today Bucket List article was written by Larry Bleiberg and was based on locations photographed by Blaine Harrington III and published on July 11th, 2014.

Bleiberg wrote: “Sure, the area is crowded with tourists, casinos and gift shops, but there’s still no denying the power and majesty of the famed falls. “It’s a marvel of nature, and man’s tackiness can’t even ruin it,” Harrington says. The falls consist of three sections, Horseshoe, Bridal Veil and American falls. Visitors can don yellow rain slickers to see the cascade from the bottom on the famed Maid of the Mist excursion tour boats.”

Bucket list tip: Try the region’s famed ice wine, developed from grapes harvested in subzero temperatures.

Blaine Harrington III

Photographer Blaine Harrington III is somewhat of an expert on beautiful locations considering his resume of photos taken across the country and around the world. Harrington lives in Denver and was the 2005 and 2006 SATW Travel Photographer of the Year.

Blaine Harrington has worked on assignments for most of the major news, business and travel magazines over his thirty-five year career and has taken over 250,000 images from over seventy countries.

Other landmarks and monuments that made the USA Today Bucket List included Badlands National Park, S.D., Kentucky horse country, Lexington , Big Bend National Park, Texas, Devils Tower, Wyo., Acadia National Park, Maine, Glenwood Canyon, Colo., Goblin Valley State Park, Utah, Prince William Sound, Alaska, and Monument Valley, Ariz.

The Nik Wallenda Monument was revealed on July 7th, 2014 to commemorate the awe-inspiring wire walk across the Horseshoe Falls by Wallenda. The monument is just yards from the brink of the Horseshoe Falls to memorialize Nik Wallenda’s great feat for future generations. Over 100 dignitaries and media were on hand on Monday, July 7th, 2014 to unveil the four and a half foot limestone and bronze marker that also includes a three and a half foot piece of the actual wire used on the historic crossing June 15th 2012.

Nik Wallenda told the assembled crowd that the monument was the final realization of a dream he had for most of his adult life. Wallenda was accompanied by his wife, daughter, sons, mother and fellow performers from his Darien Lake “Nik Wallenda Beyond the Falls” show.

After answering questions Wallenda climbed on top of the monument and posed while standing on the aluminum wire that was once a part of the 1,800 foot cable used for the wire-walk.

The image captured in the Nik Wallenda Monument bronze plague mounted in the limestone is from a photo taken by veteran professional photographer James P. McCoy. The monument was then sketched and designed by long-time artist and State Parks employee Jack Glennie. The finished monument was then built by Wagner Monuments of Cheektowaga.

On the night of June 15th Nik Wallenda began his walk just above the Horseshoe Falls and walked along the cable , 1,500 feet to the Canadian side despite that wire dipping some 35 feet in the middle. 

As Nik Wallenda got to the end of of his walk he stopped, got down on one knee and blew a kiss to the crowd. Wallenda then got up, pumped his fist, and ran the final few steps completing the walk in twenty-six minutes.

One Billion Viewers

The day after Nik Wallenda’s historic walk Engima Research estimated that one billion people had seen or heard about Wallenda’s walk making it the most famous “stunt” in the history of Niagara Falls

Wallenda has tried to establish a permanent venue in Niagara Falls USA where he could perform during the summer months, but has been unable to secure sponsors to make it happen. The Nik Wallenda Monument will then serve as a constant reminder of the historic event in the meantime

Niagara Falls‘ “Old Stone Chimney” is considered the second oldest masonry structure west of the Hudson River. This significant historical structure however sits on an obscure piece of land on the embankment of the Robert Moses Parkway, near the John B. Daly Boulevard exit and behind an abandoned parking lot.

The “Old Stone Chimney” obscures location will all soon change however, in the summer of 2014. $200,000 in Niagara River Greenway funding has been approved to move the chimney to a location closer to the Niagara River known to locals as the Niagara Power Project “spoils pile”.

The “Old Stone Chimney” has a rich history and was originally built in 1750 by Daniel de Joncaire as part of two-story barracks on the site of the French “Fort du Portage,” or “Fort Little Niagara”. This historic structure was built from approximately sixty tons of stones that were collected along the Niagara River and Niagara Escarpment.

In 1759 Daniel de Joncaire instructed his troops to burn the barracks because British forces were approaching from the west. Joncaire and his men fled to Fort Niagara and the only thing that remained from his former location was the “Old Stone Chimney”.

In 1760, the British utilized the stone chimney as part of a two-story house with a one and one half-story addition attached to the French stone chimney. That house remained in one form or another through the Revolutionary War, but during the War of 1812 it was burned by the British in December 1813 in retaliation for the burning of Niagara-on-the-Lake by American forces, still the “Old Stone Chimney” stood.

The “Old Stone Chimney” survived as an attachment to a two-story wooden building used as an Inn and later a home. In 1889 the building was torn down, but in 1890, the Niagara Falls Power Company bought the property. The “Old Stone Chimney” then became the focus of concern by citizens wishing to maintain it’s integrity.

A song was actually written by Thomas V. Welch in 1891 to draw attention to the “Old Stone Chimney” and the words were:

“Long may the old stone chimney stand,
Upon Niagara’s shore;
The sons of France and Britain’s band,
They battle there no more;
The pioneers, and sweethearts dear,
Are sleepin on the hill,
Where the stone chimney stands,
In the evening gray and still.”

The “Old Stone Chimney” was then dismantled and moved about 150 feet in 1902. In 1942 the “Old Stone Chimney” was again moved to Porter Park, where it has stood until the summer of 2014.

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