Great Gully cuts through massive layers of limestone, giving it a different look from shale-based waterfalls found in many of the other Finger Lakes gorges. The dropping and swirling water of Great Gully Creek has carved out several deep pools that keep a significant depth throughout even the hottest summer months.

The Lower Falls is very wide, cascading down a short 8 ft drop into a large and popular swimming hole. The Upper Falls has a very large, thick limestone cap rock over which the creek plunges 18 ft over a sizable cave. There is a refreshing swimming hole at the base of the Upper Falls.

Before Europeans entered the area, the Cayuga ‘castle’ of Goiogouen was located right to the north of Great Gully. This was a large and principle village that consisted of over 15 longhouses and numerous corn fields and orchards. The early French settlers in the area also built a Jesuit mission at this site. Early European settlers wrote accounts of the plentiful salmon and freshwater eels present in tributaries along Cayuga Lake, including Great Gully Creek. Undoubtedly, the earliest inhabitants of the area used the Great Gully area for swimming, fishing, and drinking.

South of Goiogouen, in what is present-day Aurora, stood the Cayuga village of Chonodote which was known as ‘Peachtown’ to the Americans because of the huge orchard of over 1,000 peach trees. During the American Revolution, four of the five nations of the Haudenosaunee sided with the British during the war, leading George Washington to direct John Sullivan and George Clinton to undertake what is now known as the Sullivan Expidition against the Iroquois and Loyalists in the area of Upstate New York.

Orders of George Washington to General John Sullivan,
at Head-Quarters May 31, 1779

The Expedition you are appointed to command is to be directed against the hostile tribes of the Six Nations of Indians, with their associates and adherents. The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements, and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their planting more. I would recommend, that some post in the center of the Indian Country, should be occupied with all expedition, with a sufficient quantity of provisions whence parties should be detached to lay waste all the settlements around, with instructions to do it in the most effectual manner, that the country may not be merely overrun, but destroyed. But you will not by any means listen to any overture of peace before the total ruinment of their settlements is effected. Our future security will be in their inability to injure us and in the terror with which the severity of the chastisement they receive will inspire them.

The Clinton-Sullivan campaign had one goal – the destruction of the Iroquois Nation as a viable entity. In this they succeeded in destroying over forty villages throughout upstate New York, including the ones by Great Gully and Aurora, effectively ending the existence of the Iroquois confederacy as a nation. Most of the former inhabitants settled on reservations at the north end of Cayuga Lake.

After the war, the area around Great Gully was included in the Central New York Military Tract, which were land grants given in lieu of payment to Continental soldiers. Settlement began in the late 1700’s, with towns popping up along numerous ‘ferries’ on the shore of Cayuga Lake – the only means of transportation at the time. The nearby village of Cayuga, NY, north of Great Gully, once had one of the longest bridges in the world, built in 1800 that spanned Cayuga Lake. The bridge was at one time considered the best public improvement project in New York State. The Cayuga bridge linked more developed eastern areas to the ‘frontiers’ of the West – and armies fighting in the War of 1812 passed on their way over the mile long bridge.

Once the Cayuga-Seneca canal was completed and linked with the nearby Erie Canal, villages such as Aurora and Union Springs began to prosper and grow while ferry and bridge travel began to decline. Union Springs was once known for its numerous sulfur and mineral springs which people came to for supposed health benefits. Nearby in Aurora, a stopping point for canal traffic, a boom-town atmosphere developed. Many famous residents called Aurora home, including the founder of Wells-Fargo, Henry Wells; Edwin B. Morgan, a founder of the New York Times, former first lady Frances Cleveland, and anthropologist Laura Nader. Aurora is also home to the prestigious Wells College, formerly an all-women’s school that recently opened its doors to men. Aurora also has the famous Mackenzie-Childs, maker of fine dining ware.

The areas around Great Gully continue to prosper thanks to the booming wine-trade that has sprung up on the shores of Cayuga Lake. This small portion of Great Gully and some acreage surrounding is protected by the Nature Conservancy.