Toccoa Falls
Toccoa Falls is a waterfall with a vertical drop of 186 feet (57 m), on the campus of Toccoa Falls College in Stephens County, Georgia. Toccoa was the Cherokee word for "beautiful" and Toccoa Falls is one of the most beautiful waterfalls of north Georgia.
Status
Some claim that Toccoa Falls is the tallest free-falling waterfall in the Eastern United States, though at least four others are taller:
- Crabtree Falls in Virginia, cascading 1,000 feet (300 m), including one drop of 400 feet (120 m).
- Caledonia Cascade in Georgia includes a 262-foot (80 m) drop.
- Fall Creek Falls in Tennessee, 256 feet (78 m).
- Taughannock Falls in New York, 215 feet (66 m).
Dam break
During the early morning hours of November 6, 1977, after five days of almost continual rain, the dam that impounded the waters of Kelly Barnes Lake (located above the Toccoa Falls College campus) burst, and 176 million gallons of water surged through the campus below in the space of a few minutes. Most of the college personnel who lived in the path of the flood were asleep at the time, and 39 of them were swept to their deaths in the raging waters of Toccoa Creek. The dam was not rebuilt.[1]
References
External links
- View of Toccoa Falls from 1929. From Vanishing Georgia, Georgia Archives, University System of Georgia. Web. May 19, 2016.
- View of Toccoa Falls from 1885. From Atlanta History Photograph Collection, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center. Web. June 4, 2016.
- Toccoa Fall[s, Height 186 feet, Toccoa, Ga.]. Historic Postcard Collection, RG 48-2-5, Georgia Archives, Digital Library of Georgia. Web. June 4, 2016.
- Richards, Thomas Addison (1842). Georgia illustrated in a series of views : embracing natural scenery and public edifices. Penfield, Ga.: W. & W. C. Richards. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
- View of Toccoa Falls from 1875. From Stephen A. Schwarzman Building / Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, New York Public Library. Original source: Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.
Coordinates: 34°35′46″N 83°21′36″W / 34.59611°N 83.36000°W