Macon

From the junction of US 64 and NC 106 in Highlands, drive 2.3 miles west on US 64. This is 14.45 miles from US 23/441 in Franklin. Trust me, you can’t miss it. Seriously.

There’s no surer way to tell that a waterfall is going to be difficult to find than for someone to say you can’t miss it. Well, friends, you can trust me with this one. If you miss Bridal Veil Falls, it’s because you ran off the road before you got there.

Bridal Veil is probably the most viewed waterfall in North Carolina, as everyone who has ever driven US 64 between Highlands and Frankling has laid eyes on it. And before 1959, everyone who drove the road did more than look at it. They got a free car wash under it!

Although not unique in the nation, the novelty of driving under a waterfall supposedly led to Robert Ripley featuring Bridal Veil Falls in his popular 

. I’ve seen this claim in a couple of places but haven’t been able to verify it. I did find Niagara’s Bridal Veil Falls during my Ripley’s research.

The waterfall is not super attractive and it’s on a very low-flow stream that can dry to little more than a trickle at times, but the easy access and idea of a road built behind it makes it popular.

Read the Cullasaja River section for an overview of the river and its waterfalls, including a list of landmarks with mile markers. You can find it by clicking the Little Tennessee River Basin button on the 

View roadside

You can no longer drive behind it, but you can walk behind it.

Historical photo of Bridal Veil Falls. (025C-17)

Historical photo of Bridal Veil Falls. (025C-18)

Historical photo of Bridal Veil Falls. (025C-19)

Historical photo of Bridal Veil Falls. (025C-20)

Historical photo by George Masa. This photo was used to make the postcard 025C-01. (025C-22)

Historical photo by George Masa. This photo was used to make the postcards 025C-02, 025C-03, and 025C-04. It was also used on the cover of the publication Eastern National Park-to-Park Highway. See 025C-21. (025C-23)

The record freeze of 1977 crystalized Bridal Veil Falls. (025C-26)

Early postcard of Bridal Veil Falls. This postcard was created using George Masa photo 025C-22. (025C-01)

Early postcard of Bridal Veil Falls. This postcard was created using George Masa photo 025C-23. This gallery includes eight variations of this postcard: 025C-02, 025C-03, 025C-04, 025C-09, 025C-12, 025C-13, 025C-14, 025C-24.(025C-02)

Early postcard of Bridal Veil Falls. This postcard was created using George Masa photo 025C-23. This gallery includes eight variations of this postcard: 025C-02, 025C-03, 025C-04, 025C-09, 025C-12, 025C-13, 025C-14, 025C-24.(025C-03)

Early postcard of Bridal Veil Falls. This postcard was created using George Masa photo 025C-23. This gallery includes eight variations of this postcard: 025C-02, 025C-03, 025C-04, 025C-09, 025C-12, 025C-13, 025C-14, 025C-24.(025C-04)

Early postcard of Bridal Veil Falls. (025C-05)

Early postcard of Bridal Veil Falls. 025-08 is a colorized version of this photo. (025C-07)

This early postcard is a colorized version of 025C-07. (025C-08)

Early postcard of Bridal Veil Falls. This postcard was created using George Masa photo 025C-23. This gallery includes eight variations of this postcard: 025C-02, 025C-03, 025C-04, 025C-09, 025C-12, 025C-13, 025C-14, 025C-24.(025C-09)

Early postcard of Bridal Veil Falls. (025C-10)

Early postcard of Bridal Veil Falls. (025C-11)

Early postcard of Bridal Veil Falls. This postcard was created using George Masa photo 025C-23. This gallery includes eight variations of this postcard: 025C-02, 025C-03, 025C-04, 025C-09, 025C-12, 025C-13, 025C-14, 025C-24.(025C-12)

Early postcard of Bridal Veil Falls. This postcard was created using George Masa photo 025C-23. This gallery includes eight variations of this postcard: 025C-02, 025C-03, 025C-04, 025C-09, 025C-12, 025C-13, 025C-14, 025C-24.(025C-13)

Early postcard of Bridal Veil Falls. This postcard was created using George Masa photo 025C-23. This gallery includes eight variations of this postcard: 025C-02, 025C-03, 025C-04, 025C-09, 025C-12, 025C-13, 025C-14, 025C-24.(025C-14)

Early postcard featuring Bridal Veil Falls, Dry Falls, and Narrows Falls, along with other scenes. (025CD-060J-01)

Bridal Veil Falls when it was legal to drive behind it. (025C-118213)

My friend Donna Eaton poses at Bridal Veil Falls. (025C-120633M5R)

Bridal Veil Falls icicles and star trails. Illumination on iciccles is from a passing car. (025C-003)

Bridal Veil Falls icicles at night. (025C-097582M2V2)

Bridal Veil Falls icicles at night. (025C-097581)

Bridal Veil Falls icicles at sunset. (025C-53770)

Winter view of Bridal Veil Falls. (025C-259036)

Icicles and night sky at Bridal Veil Falls. Image converted to black & white. (025C-53836V2R)

Bridal Veil Falls at night, illuminated by car headlights. (025C-53786V3R)

The waterfall is right beside US 64 between Highlands and Franklin.

Get Your Bearings

Watch out for traffic! To get a good frontal view of the falls, you must cross the highway and stand on the road shoulder. This is a busy road with people driving by much faster than they should, and if they are paying attention to anything, it’s the waterfall, not you.

Special Considerations

Like a bride’s veil. This is among the most prevalent waterfall names in the world. In North Carolina, it ranks up there with Laurel Falls and High Falls.

, the waterfall was sometimes called Pal Dills Falls, after a man named pal who lived at the top of the falls.

Naming

You may question the 116-foot height. The freefalling portion is only about 40 feet, but carefully cross the road and view the waterfall from in front and you’ll see that most of the falling water is above. Still, I must admit that I questioned this measurement. It just doesn’t look like there could be close to 76 feet of waterfall above the freefall (a small part of the 116-foot measurement is below the freefall). But I’ve learned to trust my rangefinder more than my eyes and after making numerous measurements I decided to quit and write down what it was telling me.

Measuring

Construction began on the road between Highlands and Franklin in 1927 and was completed in 1929. The idea to build the road to run behind Bridal Veil Falls wasn’t based on practicality but rather on creating an attraction.

And make an attraction it did. Bridal Veil soon began appearing in publications and on numerous postcards. The Eastern National Park-to-Park Highway Association, an organization formed to promote a federal highway to join Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, and Mammoth Cave national parks, as well as several other sites, featured Bridal Veil Falls on the cover of a promotional booklet even though the waterfall would not lie along the proposed route.

For thirty years travelers drove behind the waterfall, getting a free car wash if the stream was running well. After passing behind the falls, one elderly woman reported to the Highlands police that a water main had broken and was pouring over the road. But it wasn’t always happy motoring. Some travelers didn’t like the water hitting their car—or them, if in a convertible. And in winter, the water froze on the roadway, creating a dangerous hazard. Road crews had to constantly keep the ice scraped from the road.

The final straw happened when a road scraper slipped off the road. A crew returning to retrieve it the next morning found it encased in ice. The bypass was completed in 1959, but thankfully the road was left behind the falls for anyone who wanted to drive it. I never missed the opportunity to wash my car when driving by.

I don’t remember exactly when it was closed permanently to automobile traffic. It might have been in December 2003 when a huge chunk of rock broke off the cliff and crashed onto the road. The rock has been removed, but the road is still closed. I know I’m not the only one who isn’t happy about that.

When the highway between Highlands and Franklin was built, it was designated as a section of NC 28. US 64 did not exist in North Carolina until 1932, at which point it was assigned to the entire route of NC 28, which ran from Tennessee to Old Fort at that time.

Read more about the road through Cullasaja River Gorge on the Cullasaja River page.

Road History

Be sure to check out the other easily-accessible waterfalls in Cullasaja River Gorge, including 

Read the Cullasaja River page for an overview of the river and its waterfalls, including a list of sights with mile markers.

Accessibility:	Roadside view
County:	Macon
River Basin:	Little Tennessee
Watercourse:	Tributary of Cullasaja River
Watershed:	Very small
Type and Height:	Upper slide and lower freefall totaling 116 feet
Landowner:	Nantahala NF, Nantahala RD

Beauty Rating:	3
Elevation:	3560 feet
USGS Map:	Highlands NC/GA
Hike Difficulty:	View roadside
Hike Distance:
Waterfall GPS:	35.0718, -83.2291
Parking GPS:	35.0718, -83.2291

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