Doane Falls

Take Highway 2 to Route 32 and exit North into the town of Athol (Route 32 and Highway 2A merge as they come into the town). A little more than 2 miles after exiting Highway 2, turn right onto Chestnut Hill Road then keep right after crossing the Millers River and continue for almsot 4 miles to the bridge over Lawrence Brook and the sign marking the Doane Falls Reservation at junction with Doane Hill Road. The trail follows the north side of Lawrence Brook downstream, passing all sections of the falls, with the final tier of the falls reached after about a quarter of a mile of walking.Doane Falls is a long series of falls along Lawrence Brook where it cascades into the valley of the Tully River. The falls drop a total of about 95 feet in three distinct sections spread out over about one-quarter mile, but no individual drop is more than about 25 feet tall. The distance separating each of these three sections of the falls is great enough that under our guidelines we would normally opt to list each of these three sections of Doane Falls as individual entries in the database, however given the long standing precedent of referring to the whole chain of falls as one entity, we will continue to list it as a single collective waterfall. The three individual sections of the falls each have their own unique character, and differ considerably in appearance. The uppermost series of falls is composed of three distinct tiers itself, each falling about 6 feet, all of which can be seen individually or collectively from several places along the trail. The second series of falls are found about 300 linear feet downstream, and consist of a short sliding fall of about 10 feet, followed by a nearly vertical fall of about 15 feet which tumbles into a pile of large boulders. The final section of the falls is the largest and most impressive, and is found another 500 linear feet further downstrem from the second set of falls. The lower set first slides down a swirling horsetail style fall for about 23 feet, and then shortly thereafter leaps over a nearly sheer cliff in a broad fall for another 20 feet. Below here Lawrence Brook resumes a gentle course and flows into Tully Lake shortly after.The official name of this waterfall is Doane Falls, in the singular form, but many sources have incorrectly referenced it as either Doanes Falls or Doane's Falls. Sometimes the name is spelled with two "n"s as well, which is also incorrect. The name of the falls stems from that of Amos Doane who built and operated a mill in the area in the 1800s.