With cars zooming down Rt 14, it is tough to enjoy this beautifully formed falls without road noise (or the fear of getting hit by a car), but it's a quick and easy stop, and certainly one of the easier waterfalls to photograph. View the falls from the parking area, or cross the street to the small grassy area near the base of the falls.

One of the more uniquely-shaped waterfalls, Aunt Sarah's Falls starts out with a thin ribbon freefall. It then hits a slanted portion of the shallow gorge and fans out. It then finishes with a wide freefall. The flow is often minuscule, but the large amount of activity gives this falls a great deal of noise. Upstream, far out of sight, is at least another 100 ft or so of cascades, but the land is not accessible.

The Village of Montour Falls lies within a gouge carved out of the Portage Escarpment by glacial and water erosion. Aunt Sarah's Falls, as well as SheQuaGa Falls, both tumble down it.

Montour Falls, like Watkins Glen is nestled within the basin of Seneca Lake. Thousands of years ago, when the lake levels were much higher, this whole region would have been underwater.

Catherine Montour or Queen Catherine, was a matriarch of the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois during the late 1700’s. Known to be the daughter of a native Huron and a French official, she was well versed in both cultures. Since she could speak English in addition to native languages, she was influential in dealing with early white settlers in the area. Montour Falls was previously known as  'Catherine's Town,' but was destroyed during the Sullivan Expedition during the Revolutionary War. Rebuilt by non-native settlers, the town was then called Havana, and renamed Montour Falls in 1890. The village of Catherine and nearby Catherine Creek are also named after Queen Catherine.

Montour Falls was an important trade stop and travel hub in its early years. It played an important role on the Seneca Lake Inlet when the Chemung Canal was built in 1827. The Chemung Canal connected Seneca Lake with the Chemung River.