waterfalls and the central feature of Taughannock Falls State Park, near the western shore of Cayuga Lake, in the Finger Lakes Region, 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Ithaca in west-central New York, U.S. The name originates either from that of the Delaware Indian chief Taughannock or as the Delaware word taghkanic (“great fall in the woods”).

The falls are formed by a creek entering the lake and are surrounded by a glen with walls some 400 feet (120 metres) deep. The cataract has a drop of 215 feet (66 metres), one of the highest east of the Rocky Mountains, and is 25 feet (8 metres) higher than Niagara Falls (the American Falls) but with a smaller volume. Dense spray rising from the bottom of the glen often shrouds the lower part of the cataract in mist.