Tallulah Gorge
Encyclopedia
- This article refers to the waterfalls and gorge. For the state park, see Tallulah Gorge State ParkTallulah Gorge State ParkTallulah Gorge State Park is a Georgia state park adjacent to Tallulah Falls, Georgia along the county line between Rabun and Habersham Counties. The park surrounds Tallulah Gorge, a deep gorge formed by the action of the Tallulah River, which runs along the floor of the gorge...
, for the town, see Tallulah Falls, GeorgiaTallulah Falls, GeorgiaTallulah Falls is a town in Habersham and Rabun counties in the U.S. state of Georgia near the Tallulah River. The population was 164 at the 2000 census...
, for the lake, see Lake Tallulah Falls and for the river, see Tallulah RiverTallulah RiverThe Tallulah River is a river in Georgia and North Carolina. It begins in Clay County, North Carolina, near Standing Indian Mountain in the Southern Nantahala Wilderness and flows south into Georgia, crossing the state line into Towns County. The river then travels through Rabun County and ends in...
.
Tallulah River
The Tallulah River is a river in Georgia and North Carolina. It begins in Clay County, North Carolina, near Standing Indian Mountain in the Southern Nantahala Wilderness and flows south into Georgia, crossing the state line into Towns County. The river then travels through Rabun County and ends in...
cutting through the Tallulah Dome rock
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
formation. The gorge is approximately 2 miles (3 km) long and features rocky cliff
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
s up to 1000 feet (304.8 m) high. Through it, a series of falls known as Tallulah Falls, drop a total of 150 metres (492.1 ft) in one mile (1.6 km). Tallulah Falls is actually composed of six separate falls: l'Eau d'Or 46 ft (14 m), Tempesta 76 ft (23.2 m), Hurricane the tallest at 96 feet (29.3 m), Oceana 50 ft (15.2 m), the smooth "sliding rock" at Bridal Veil 17 ft (5.2 m) and Lovers Leap 16 ft (4.9 m). The Tallulah Gorge is located next to the town of Tallulah Falls, Georgia
Tallulah Falls, Georgia
Tallulah Falls is a town in Habersham and Rabun counties in the U.S. state of Georgia near the Tallulah River. The population was 164 at the 2000 census...
. Tallulah Gorge State Park
Tallulah Gorge State Park
Tallulah Gorge State Park is a Georgia state park adjacent to Tallulah Falls, Georgia along the county line between Rabun and Habersham Counties. The park surrounds Tallulah Gorge, a deep gorge formed by the action of the Tallulah River, which runs along the floor of the gorge...
protects much of the gorge and its waterfalls. The gorge is considered to be one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia.
Just above the falls is Tallulah Falls Lake
Tallulah Falls Lake
Tallulah Falls Lake is a reservoir with of shoreline located in the Northeastern corner of Georgia in Rabun County. It is the fourth and smallest lake in a six-lake series created by hydroelectric dams operated by Georgia Power that follows the original course of the Tallulah River...
, created in 1913 by a hydroelectric dam built by Georgia Railway and Power (now Georgia Power
Georgia Power
Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is the largest of the four electric utilities that are owned and operated by Southern Company....
) in order to run Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
's streetcars. The dam still collects and redirects most of the water via a 6666 feet (2,031.8 m) tunnel sluice
Sluice
A sluice is a water channel that is controlled at its head by a gate . For example, a millrace is a sluice that channels water toward a water mill...
or penstock
Penstock
A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydraulic turbines and sewerage systems. It is a term that has been inherited from the technology of wooden watermills....
(pipe
Pipeline transport
Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. Most commonly, liquids and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes that transport solid capsules using compressed air are also used....
) around the falls to an electricity generation
Electricity generation
Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...
station downstream that is 608 feet (185.3 m) lower than the lake, except for a few days each year. The days when water is released are very popular for recreation, such as kayak
Kayak
A kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...
ing and whitewater rafting.
History
Since the early 19th century, Tallulah Gorge and its waterfalls have been a tourist attraction. In 1882, Tallulah Falls RailwayTallulah Falls Railway
The Tallulah Falls Railway, also known as the Tallulah Falls Railroad, "The TF" and "TF & Huckleberry," was a railroad based in Tallulah Falls, Georgia, U.S.A. which ran from Cornelia, Georgia to Franklin, North Carolina...
was built, increasing the accessibility of the area to tourists from Atlanta and south Georgia, and the gorge became North Georgia's first tourist attraction. Resort hotels and bars sprung up to serve the tourist trade, which, after the addition of the railway, swelled to as many as 2,000 people on Sunday alone. In 1883, tightrope walker Professor Bachman crossed the gorge as part of publicity stunt for one hotel. On July 18, 1970, Karl Wallenda
Karl Wallenda
Karl Wallenda was the founder of The Flying Wallendas, an internationally known daredevil circus act famous for performing death-defying stunts without a safety net.-Personal life:...
became the second man to trot across the gorge on a tightrope.
In the 1910s, Georgia Railway and Power began building dams on the river. The town of Burton, Georgia
Burton, Georgia
The town of Burton, Georgia now lies underwater, covered by Lake Burton. The town was located at the confluence of Dicks Creek and the Tallulah River in Rabun County, Georgia and was established in the first half of the 19th century as a result of the Georgia Gold Rush...
was purchased and flooded as Lake Burton in 1919. Many area residents opposed the dams, including the widow of Confederate general James Longstreet
James Longstreet
James Longstreet was one of the foremost Confederate generals of the American Civil War and the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Horse." He served under Lee as a corps commander for many of the famous battles fought by the Army of Northern Virginia in the...
, Helen Dortch Longstreet
Helen Dortch Longstreet
Helen Dortch Longstreet , known as the "Fighting Lady," was the second wife of Confederate General James Longstreet. She earned her nickname from being a champion of causes such as preservation of the environment and civil rights...
, who led a campaign in 1911 to have Tallulah Gorge protected by the state. The Georgia Assembly was unable to raise the $1 million required to purchase the gorge. Although her campaign was not successful, it was one of the first conservation movement
Conservation movement
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....
s in Georgia. When the dam was completed in 1913, the roar of the Tallulah Falls (the roar could be heard for miles from the gorge) was quieted, and tourism dwindled. It was not until 1993 that the Tallulah Gorge State Park was created by Georgia governor Zell Miller
Zell Miller
Zell Bryan Miller is an American politician from the US state of Georgia. A Democrat, Miller served as Lieutenant Governor from 1975 to 1991, 79th Governor of Georgia from 1991 to 1999, and as United States Senator from 2000 to 2005....
in cooperation with Georgia Power
Georgia Power
Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is the largest of the four electric utilities that are owned and operated by Southern Company....
.
Although tourism promoters in the late 19th century described the word Tallulah as meaning "loud waters" in Cherokee, it actually has no meaning in that language. The most likely source of the word is from the Cherokee Indians who inhabited the area. The word word tallulah actually means "the terrible" or from the Choctaw Indians, it means "leaping water."
Tallulah Falls in popular culture
- The opening credits of the 1976 film Grizzly were filmed flying through the gorge, and several establishing shots were shot in one of the gift shops on the gorge rim.
- The area is mentioned in comedian Tim Wilson's song "George Is On My Mind (The George Song)", possibly because its name is close to being "George" and because Wilson is actually from Georgia.
- Parts of the 1972 film DeliveranceDeliveranceDeliverance is a 1972 American thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman. Principal cast members include Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty in his film debut. The film is based on a 1970 novel of the same name by American author James Dickey, who has a small role in the...
were filmed in the gorge.
Geology and ecology
Fold (geology)
The term fold is used in geology when one or a stack of originally flat and planar surfaces, such as sedimentary strata, are bent or curved as a result of permanent deformation. Synsedimentary folds are those due to slumping of sedimentary material before it is lithified. Folds in rocks vary in...
of the Earth's crust
Crust (geology)
In geology, the crust is the outermost solid shell of a rocky planet or natural satellite, which is chemically distinct from the underlying mantle...
during the formation of Pangaea
Pangaea
Pangaea, Pangæa, or Pangea is hypothesized as a supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration....
, about 500 to 250 million years ago. The dome is made up of mostly quartzite
Quartzite
Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
along with schist
Schist
The schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
.
Because of the variation in sunlight, shade, and moisture caused by the steep cliffs, several different ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s exist in and around the canyon
Canyon
A canyon or gorge is a deep ravine between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Rivers have a natural tendency to reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water it will eventually drain into. This forms a canyon. Most canyons were formed by a process of...
-like gorge . The Persistent Trillium
Persistent Trillium
The Persistent Trillium is a flowering plant in the genus Trillium of family Melanthiaceae...
, an endangered species of trillium
Trillium
Trillium is a genus of about 40–50 species of spring ephemeral perennials, native to temperate regions of North America and Asia....
, grows in this river basin and only few other parts of the South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
/ Georgia area.