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This web site is dedicated to the memory of my son and; to the memory of the other children who have drowned here. Rockwell falls is located on the Hudson River, in the Adrondack State Park. The falls borders the towns of Hadley and Lake Luzerne, in upstate New York. I heard of ten deaths here prior, to my son's death and the death of Gregory Rail, three years before my son's. Steven Anthony Romero died here on June 17, 1994. He was only 18 years old and would be graduating from high school, the following week. On graduation day, I eulogized my son at his funeral. He was my oldest child and will forever remain in my heart and mind. |
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The Bridge of Hope, located on Main Street spans the Hudson River gorge, from where the falls can be seen. The water here is 80 feet deep and is considered "Black Water". It has been a popular swimming hole for the local residents of Hadley (Saratoga County) and Lake Luzerne (Warren County), since the turn of the century. There are underwater rock ledges, rapids, a strong current and undertow. It is very easy to get trapped under a rock ledge. |
This is a photograph taken on the Bridge of Hope which is situated at least 350 feet downstream from the falls. The children who swim here also jump from the bridge. The following is an excerpt from an essay written by a student who lives in the town of Lake Luzerne.
Along Main Street is Papa's Ice Cream Shop, a strictly summer operation. Like the Camacho camp, it is a white slap-shingle building with red trim and a green tar-shingle roof. Behind it, too, down a small embankment, is the Hudson River. On the backside of the house-turned-ice-cream-shop is a wraparound porch. It is here, at white iron tables and seated in white iron chairs, that you can enjoy a banana split or a root beer float while watching the river flow by. Here the river rages; waves leap up in fear of their inevitable crash down Rockwell Falls. Just below Papa's the river is channeled between two immense cliffs, after it crashes over the falls and before it flattens and widens with the joining of the Sacandaga. The force of the water coming over the falls has dug the river deep. So deep that there is a local myth of a cement truck being lost in its depths. Locals say the truck plummeted the 70 feet during the construction of the Hadley-Luzerne bridge, driver and all; no search has yet been able to make it deep enough to recover the lost. On any given summer day, teenagers, and those wishing they still were, willingly launch their bodies off the 70-foot bridge and the lesser levels of the cliffs into the racing water below. The river's deep enough here that I've never heard of anyone hitting bottom; that is not what takes their lives. There are also those few who take the risk of swimming over the falls; l ike the bridge jumpers, they sometimes die, and it is not usually crashing into the rocks that kills them, but the undertow, which is strong and erratic. There are whirlpools that can suck you into the deeps, and up-currents that can launch you out of the water. It seems that almost every summer the river claims a victim, a jumper from the bridge or a swimmer of the falls. See: http://www.smcvt.edu/Admin2.asp?SiteAreaID=596&Level=1
I found this photograph on the Internet. By looking at the woman in the picture, you can compare her size with the magnitude of the falls. I've seen the falls during drought and when we've had record seasons of snow and rain. The depth of the water is very deceiving.
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The sad thing is that I had to sue the town of Lake Luzerne in 1994 because they would not put up signs, warning the public of the dangerous conditions. It's been seven years since I initiated my law suit. I was victorious in every hearing and even in the trial which took place in November 2000. The town keeps appealing all of the decisions made by the judge and jury. As recent as January 8, 2001 the town wanted me to accept a settlement that amounts to a slap in the face. If I accepted, it would mean that the town of Lake Luzern would get away without making changes that may prevent the lost of more lives. Each year starting in the late spring local children continue to swim in the swift current. |
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