Portageville is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

located in the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

Genesee Falls Genesee Falls is an incorporated town in Wyoming County, New York. The population was 438 at the 2010 census. The Town of Genesee Falls is in the southeastern corner of the county. History The Town of Genesee Falls was established in 1846. T ...

in Wyoming County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. Its name derives from the Native American canoeists who would withdraw their craft from the river to avoid going over three waterfalls in the

Genesee River The Genesee River is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides h ...

gorge now known as

Portage Falls Portage Falls are three large waterfalls located along the Genesee River. The falls are by the Portage Bridge and run through Letchworth State Park. William Pryor Letchworth once owned a tract and built his Glen Iris Estate in the area that ...

. They had to ''portage'' several miles to the site of present-day Mount Morris, where they could embark for the rest of the journey downriver. Portageville is the only named community in the town of Genesee Falls. The Genesee River Gorge with its scenic waterfalls was formed after the original valley was buried in

glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...

debris from the last ice age and the river had to cut a new valley though the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, wh ...

sedimentary rock of the area. It has also been called ''The Grand Canyon of the East''. The site has now been designated

Letchworth State Park Letchworth State Park is a New York State Park located in Livingston County and Wyoming County in the western part of the State of New York. The park is roughly long, following the course of the Genesee River as it flows north through a dee ...

and is a major tourist attraction, with the lower entrance at Portage. The

First Universalist Church of Portageville First Universalist Church of Portageville, also known as The Portageville Chapel, is a historic Universalist church in Portageville, Wyoming County, New York. It is a Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which be ...

was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2008.

References

{{authority control Hamlets in New York (state) New York (state) populated places on the Genesee River Hamlets in Wyoming County, New York

See also

References