Falls Park is a regional attraction which can be accessed at Main Street and West Camperdown Way, or at East Camperdown Way and Falls Street in Greenville, South Carolina. The park is open each day from 7am to 9pm and is free to enter. The park is set by the Reedy River, which is a tributary of the Saluda River, and about 65 miles long running through northwestern South Carolina.
In the early part of the 20th century three textile mills and a cotton warehouse operated in the area, all contributing to the pollution of the river. Since 1967, when the Carolina Foothills Garden Club reclaimed 26 acres for the current park, they and the City of Greenville have worked with individuals, corporations and state and federal agencies to clean up the river, develop the park and restore the historic Falls Cottage. In 1990, landscape architect Andrea Mains brought about the idea of transforming the park into a tourist attraction, with beautiful public gardens and a pedestrian bridge.
Open throughout the year the gardens are divided in to outside rooms and include the Falls Cottage Garden and the Governor's School Woods, which are full of ornamental and native plants. To maintain its year round interest, the park is filled with spring bulbs, perennials and many evergreen and spring flowering trees. The park endeavors to maintain plant varieties indigenous to the upper regions of South Carolina.
Designed by architect Miguel Rosales, the pedestrian bridge called Liberty Bridge is the focal point of Falls Park and cost $4.5 million to build. It is 355-feet long, 12-feet wide, has a horizontal curve radius of 214-feet and 90-foot towers weighing 26 tons each, whilst the bridge's handrails are lit at night giving it a glowing effect. This is an ideal vantage point for viewing the public gardens below as well as the Reedy River Falls.
Appointments can be made for tours with the Garden Manager and are geared for adult and young audiences, focusing on interpretive history and horticulture with the proceeds going to the Falls Park Endowment Fund. Families can get a Falls Park coloring book during their visit, which explains the development around Reedy River Falls, and whilst the older children or parents read the history of the park, the younger children can color in the drawings. The Reedy River Corridor Trail is a continuous paved trail along the banks of the Reedy River and can begin at any one of the area parks including Falls Park, Cleveland Park or Linky Stone Park.
Various locations within the park are available for hire to stage private events. There is the Bowater Amphitheater, which can hold up to 200 people and can be rented together with Main Street Plaza for an extra 100 people. The plaza can be hired separately but neither venue is available for staging weddings. However weddings can be staged at the River Lodge and Old Garden Mill, which can accommodate up to 100 guests.
