Kayla MathieuFollow along as we travel into the woods to find the Eternal Flame at the Chestnut Ridge Park in Western New York.
The Eternal Flame in Western New York
I had vaguely heard of random flames occurring in nature, but I didn’t pay much attention to the information because I never thought I would travel to a place where this type of phenomena occurred. We had no idea that we were staying within a half an hour drive from one of the most unique and mysterious eternal flames in the world! When one of the locals mentioned it as a place we should visit, of course we had to check it out!
The Eternal Flame is located in Chestnut Ridge Park near Orchard Park, New York. It is a fairly short hike, just over a mile round trip. There is a decent decline into the Shale Creek Preserve, but the park added a man-made stair walkway to make the decent easier to traverse. Once in Shale Creek, you hike up stream to the Eternal Flame Falls. Our visit was during a dry season, so we didn’t have to navigate through too much water, but I could see the hike creating more of a challenge during a wetter season.
The hike ends when you reach the 35-foot waterfall. Underneath the waterfall, in a small grotto, you’ll find a flame burning, seemingly unfazed by the continuous flow of water. Contrary to its name, the flame in not “eternal”, it has periodically gone out. However, the natural gas seeping into the grotto makes it easy for anyone in the area to reignite the flame. From my research, as far as I can tell, this flame under a waterfall is the only one that exists in the world today. There are other flames, but I couldn’t find another one under a waterfall. If you are ever in Western New York, the Niagara Falls is not the only waterfall you need to see!
