Among the notables who found their way to Trenton Falls were: Joseph Bonaparte, DeWitt Clinton, Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, and Ulysses S. Grant. Poets: William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and James Russell Lowell. Authors and journalists: Washington Irving, Horace Greeley, Nathaniel Parker Willis from America, Harriet Martineau and Anthony Trollope from England. Artists: Thomas Hicks, Ferdinand Richardt from Denmark, Samuel F. B. Morse, and William Henry Bartlett.

In 1806, John Sherman, the grandson of Roger Sherman of Connecticut who had signed the Declaration of Independence, journeyed westward to the Trenton area where his sister’s family had joined hundreds of fellow Yankees on the Oneida frontier. Soon he delighted to guide visitors through the area. In 1822, Sherman purchased 60 acres of land along the stream and the next year erected the Rural Resort, a small tower overlooking the High Falls. Here Sherman sold liquid refreshment to visitors exhausted by their climb up and along the rushing torrent below.

In 1824, Sherman enlarged his house, to provide overnight accommodations, with tables for forty diners. To attract custom, Sherman wrote a pamphlet extolling the beauties of the waterfalls and noting the comfortable accommodations available.

Michael Moore of New York visited the falls in 1828 only to sprain his ankle. Maria Sherman, one of Sherman’s three daughters, nursed him back to health. They fell in love and were married in 1831, three years after John Sherman’s death. Moore took over the management and presided over the long dining table. Moore kept adding to his establishment until it had 150 rooms with plenty of rocking chairs on the veranda and two bars for the thirsty.

Increasing patronage led Moore in 1851 to construct the Trenton Falls Hotel or Moore’s Hotel. This structure had a front of 136 feet and a dining room 60x30 feet. Three years later, the first steam engine of the Mohawk and Malone company pulled into the Trenton station. There omnibuses met passengers and ferried them to Moore’s Hotel. For the rest of the century a stagecoach or “tally-ho” carried passengers on each trip to the hotel.

Thousands of central New Yorkers visited the Falls for a day’s outing. Lewis Joy, the owner of a staging line, built another hotel south of the Moore property. His Kuyahoora, later acquired by Moore, offered thirty rooms. Thanks to its furnace it remained open all year round whereas Moore’s Hotel closed in the fall. Enterprising citizens erected a dance pavilion and set aside groves for picnics.

The most notable and perhaps the most puzzling gathering at Trenton Falls took place on August 18, 1863 when the ambassadors and ministers of seven nations met at Moore’s. Secretary of State William H. Seward had invited several members of the diplomatic corps to accompany him in a special railroad car through the northern states. Perhaps he hoped that a display of manufacturing and agricultural resources would convince these diplomats to report back home that a Union victory was inevitable. Also, Ulysses S. Grant visited Trenton Falls in 1872 as the guest of United States Senator Roscoe Conkling of Utica.

Michael Moore died in 1888 before Trenton Falls had lost most of its popular favor. The depression of 1893 plunged thousands of businessmen into bankruptcy; the lucky survivors gave up spending for such luxuries as gourmet meals in the North -Woods. Charles Moore fought hard to attract visitors by creating a picnic ground, building additional paths, and by advertising, but to no avail.

Moore’s Hotel reopened to the public in 1902 after extensive renovations. The successive proprietors had indifferent success in recapturing its former dominance. World War II hastened the decline of Trenton Falls. Not only did a heavy snowfall cave in the roof of the old hotel, but gas rationing limited patronage. Today, after a heavy snow melt an intrepid climber might make his way, to Irving Point and catch a glimpse of the roaring cascade which the Indians called Leaping Water.