Fall Line - United States

United States

The slope of fall zones on rivers played a role in settlement patterns. For example, fall lines proved useful for hydroelectric dams such as at Rochester, New York (on the Niagara Escarpment) and Columbia, South Carolina (on the Atlantic Seaboard fall line). Other cities along fall lines of the United States include:

• New England fall line:

• Lowell, Massachusetts (Merrimack River).
• Hartford, Connecticut (Connecticut River).
• Fall River, Massachusetts (Quequechan River).
• Bangor, Maine (Penobscot River).
• Augusta, Maine (Kennebec River).

• Onondaga fall line:

• Albany, New York (Hudson River).

• Southern fall line:

• Washington, D.C. on the Potomac River
• Alexandria, Virginia on the Potomac River
• Fredericksburg, Virginia on the Rappahannock River
• Hanover, Virginia on the North Anna River
• Richmond, Virginia on the James River
• Petersburg, Virginia on the Appomattox River
• Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina on the Roanoke River
• Fayetteville, North Carolina on the Cape Fear River
• Columbia, South Carolina on the Congaree River
• Augusta, Georgia on the Savannah River.
• Milledgeville, Georgia on the Oconee River.
• Macon, Georgia on the Ocmulgee River.
• Columbus, Georgia on the Chattahoochee River.
• Tallassee, Alabama on the Tallapoosa River.
• Wetumpka, Alabama on the Coosa River.