Annie Edson Taylor was a 63-year-old widowed schoolteacher from Bay City, Michigan, who became the first person on record to survive going over Niagara Falls. On October 24, 1901, she attempted the daring stunt inside a custom-built oak barrel weighted with a 100-pound anvil to keep it upright. Miraculously, she survived the powerful plunge over Horseshoe Falls.

Her barrel was recovered on the Canadian side of the river, and upon emerging, she famously said, “No one ought ever try this again.” Following her historic feat, Annie settled in Niagara Falls, New York, where she made a modest living selling souvenirs and sharing her story with tourists. Despite her bravery, she died in poverty on April 29, 1921, and is buried at Oakwood Cemetery, alongside other notable Niagara Falls daredevils.

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