Rutherford

Bottomless Pools is a former tourist attraction near Lake Lure. Pool Creek flows over a series of small, scenic waterfalls, with large potholes at their base. They aren’t bottomless, of course, but they are deep and the name served as an intriguing enticement for tourists.

Bottomless pools is on private property and is no longer open to the public.

Historical photo of Bottomless Pools. (057I-01)

Historical photo of Bottomless Pools by George Masa. (057I-03)

Historical photo of Bottomless Pools by George Masa. (057I-04)

Historical photo of Bottomless Pools by George Masa. (057I-05)

Historical postcard of Bottomless Pools. (057I-06)

Historical postcard of Bottomless Pools. (057I-07)

Bottomless pools opened as a tourist attraction in 1916, making it one of the earliest mountain attractions, along with sites like The Blowing Rock and nearby Chimney Rock. I don’t know when it closed. It was open in 2004 when I paid $3 for admission.

The site is now overgrown and the remaining structures—ticket booth, restrooms, shelter, well house, wedding chapel—slowly dilapidating. However, most of them appear to be in good enough condition to be restored. They might not be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, but it seems they should qualify as local historic treasures.

Unfortunately, the outcome in the above paragraph is nothing more than an old man’s nostalgic fantasy. The Chimney Rock State Park Master Plan of 2011 includes Bottomless Pools for future land acquisition, but even if that were to occur, it’s highly unlikely that any effort would be made to restore any of these structures.

The brochure mentioned below in Legends says that Robert Ripley featured Bottomless Pools in his Believe It or Not cartoon on June 29, 1939. My efforts to find this cartoon have failed.

History

One can imagine that had this attraction been named, say, “20 Foot Deep Pools,” it wouldn’t have stayed in business very long. I don’t know how deep the pools are but calling them “Bottomless” was a genius marketing strategy.

The 1907, 1934, and 1942 Saluda USGS map calls Bottomless Pools "The Pools."

Naming

There’s nothing special about Bottomless Pools compared to other areas in western North Carolina that have potholes. The potholes result from the scouring action of swirling water, sand, and pebbles over time.

As to their depth, well, of course they aren’t bottomless. I well remember visiting here as a small child and being awestruck at the idea of no bottom having been found. I asked my parents how that could be. I mean, why don’t they just use a longer string?

So, how deep are they? I don’t know, and interestingly, I can find no information of the pools ever having been properly measured, although surely curiosity had to have gotten the best of the attraction owners at some point. But then, they wouldn’t tell us, would they?

I have a few historical references (see Historical Literature) that I wouldn’t deem reliable, especially considering that they all differ on the analysis.

Geology

At Bottomless Pools, the legend isn’t about an Indian maiden who was denied the love of her life and cast herself into the pools of unknown depth, although I’m surprised there isn’t such a story. The legend here is sinister, and it might be true.

I tracked down a circa 1940 brochure that says the Ku Klux Klan held meetings at Bottomless Pools. In a section titled “The Legend of the Bottomless Pools,” the brochure says, “It is said that the Bottomless Pools, whose swirling waters have no known depths, were often the meeting place of one of the organization’s most powerful groups. What secrets the Bottomless Pools might hold of the secret meetings of the Ku Klux Klan and their ways of administering justice; what weird and eerie tales they could tell of mystery-shrouded meetings where the Firey Cross flamed Hope to a devastated Southland, will always be a mystery. The dark, opaque waters are ever silent about the awesome rites of the Ku Klux Klan of which so little is known, but which did so much to restore the South after the horrors of reconstruction.”

It should be noted that this brochure was published during the Jim Crow era, when many people viewed the Klan favorably.

Legends

Still the stream flows fresh forever, Never resting, night or day. 

Robert Frank Jarrett in Occoneechee, The Maid of the Mystic Lake, 1946

The earliest literature reference I can find is in Charles Lanman's 

, published in 1949. “and in a neighboring brook near the base of this precipice are three shooting waterfalls, at the foot of which, formed out of solid stone, are three holes, which are about ten feet in diameter and measuring from forty to fifty feet in depth.”

The next reference I found is from the book 

Mountain Scenery, The Scenery of the Mountains of Western North Carolina and Northwestern South Carolina 

by Henry E. Colton, published in 1859. Colton quotes “the present junior editor of the N.C. Standard,” writing: 

Just one mile from the road, to the left (leaving it at the house of Mr. Washington Harris, at the foot of the mountain), are "The Pools." A small stream flows down a deep ravine, and at length, with a perpendicular fall of ten or twelve feet, plunges into a natural well, or pool, formed in the solid rock. This pool is perfectly round, perhaps fifteen feet in diameter, and about thirty in depth. The stream flows on for a few steps farther, and again falls into another pool, similar to the first, and about the same size and depth. A little farther on is the third pool, about twenty feet in diameter, and of unknown depth. The water in this has a rotary motion, but there seems to be no subterraneous outlet, as the volume of water below is equal to that above. When a stick, or branch of a tree is thrown into it, it will disappear for some time, and again rise on the upper side of the pool, then disappear again, as before, and so continue appearing and disappearing. The whole surface around the Pools is a solid and smooth rock.

Later in the book, Colton, who doesn’t appear to have a voice of his own, quotes “A tourist in the mountains,” saying: 

About the same distance southward, are the Cascades, or Whirlpools, on a small stream coming down a deep mountain gorge. This stream runs a considerable distance in a channel of solid rock, and at three separate places it leaps over ledges of rock about ten feet high, and plunges into circular pools, which incessantly whirl and foam under the action of the falling water. A slender pole of twenty-five feet in length may be thrust into them without finding the bottom. It will, however, come back with a rebound that is dangerous to the amateur explorer who heedlessly stands in its line of direction. No successful attempt has been made to sound their depth. Once, we are told, a rope with a stone tied to it, was lowered into them, but gradually ceased to descend at thirty-seven feet depth. The conclusion was, that the rope buoyed up the stone at that point. One is tempted to ask the difficult questions, whether these pools have been worn out by the falling water? and how long would it take a petty stream to make an excavation of that depth in solid granite? Who will answer?

Colton wasn’t the only author writing about Bottomless Pools who didn’t have a voice of their own. In 

Picturesque America; or, The land we live in

, published in 1872, F. G. De Fontaine clearly plagiarizes Charles Lanman when he writes:

[I]n a neighboring rock [Lanman wrote “brook”], near the base of the precipice, are three shooting water-falls, at the foot of which, formed out of solid stone, are three holes, ten feet in diameter, and from forty to fifty feet in depth. The water in them has a rotary motion, and, when a stick or branch is thrown into it, it will disappear for some time, and then rise on the upper side of the pool, to disappear again in the same manner.

As is the case with several historical writings about North Carolina waterfalls, I wonder if Fontaine ever saw Hickory Nut Gorge with his own eyes.

Lindsey’s Guide Book to Western North Carolina

, published in 1890, gives the following account of Bottomless Pools: 

The "Pools" is another great curiosity as well as mystery to the geologist, there are three of them, one above the other and several yards apart, they are in the bed of a good sized creek which comes down a mountain gorge and pours itself over a ledge of rock into the upper pool which is some ten feet in diameter and looks for all the world like it had been drilled out in the solid rock with a huge auger, this one is some fifteen feet deep, the water flows from this pool down over moss-covered rocks a distance of fifty feet and plunges into the second pool, which is a fac-simile of the first in size and general appearance, but is about eighty feet deep, the third or lower pool is perhaps seventy-five feet below the second one and is a counterpart of the other two in appearance, but unlike them it seems to be bottomless, so far as has been ascertained, having been sounded to a depth of two hundred feet without finding bottom.

, published in 1913, Margaret W. Morley states:

But one must not leave Logan’s yet, not before taking that delightful walk up the creek to the pools, a series of large, round, fabulously deep pot-holes. There are three of them, and, according to the people, one of them has no bottom, while another is one hundred feet deep, and the third eighty feet deep. Aside from their invisible depths, the pools are worth a visit because of the visible and charming manner in which Pool Creek comes sliding over smooth rock faces, finally to leap in a cascade into pool after pool, striking with force and whirling around the smooth stone wall of the basin. Pool Creek has many cascades; and it is shaded by tall trees, and bordered by the beautiful growths of this region, and beset with wild flowers, in their season. So, even were its pools of commonplace depths, one would look back with pleasure to a walk up the enchanting stream.

Historical Literature

At least one silent film and one motion picture feature Bottomless Pools. I suspect there are more, given the scenic attributes and easy access for filmmakers, and the fact that this region has been a popular filming location.

, Jim pans for gold at the base of the small upper falls.

 shows two rednecks shooting birds while standing at the brink of the lower falls.

Read more about this movie and the waterfall scenes on the 

Hollywood

Until the attraction closed, Bottomless Pools was a popular subject for photographers. In the first half of 1900s, many photographers visited the pools, including George Masa. It was a popular subject for postcards of the time.

Accessibility:	Not accessible to the public
County:	Rutherford
River Basin:	Broad
Watercourse:	Pool Creek
Watershed:	Small
Type and Height:	Series of small waterfalls and large potholes
Landowner:	Private

Beauty Rating:
Elevation:
USGS Map:	Lake Lure
Hike Difficulty:
Hike Distance:
Waterfall GPS:	35.42697, -82.23185
Parking GPS:

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