Toccoa Falls

Nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, 95 miles north of Atlanta, Georgia, and 65 miles south of Greenville, South Carolina, is Toccoa Falls. It is located on the campus of Toccoa Falls College, a four-year, fully accredited Christian college.

A meandering stream flows through the lower part of the 1,000-acre, wooded campus from the base of the 186 foot high waterfall. This spectacular waterfall, higher than Niagara Falls, is a popular tourist attraction and campus retreat.

On November 6, 1977, the Kelly Barnes Dam, built up and used by the college for electrical power since the Toccoa Falls Institute days, collapsed and the 40-acre lake it impounded drained through the lower part of the campus. The resulting flood killed 39 people and injured 60 more, as well as destroying much of the on-campus married student housing, and damaging part of the men's dormitory. The dam was never rebuilt. With the destruction of the dam, and the draining of the lake, there exists no possibility of a similar flood.