Yancey

Some North Carolina waterfalls seem as suited to a history book as to a guidebook. Linville Falls and Toxaway Falls come to mind, but Mitchell Falls stands apart because of an event that occurred on June 27, 1857. That day, Dr. Elisha Mitchell fell to his death over the waterfall. See “History” for more on that.

Mitchell Falls is as private as private gets. Obtaining permission to visit is highly unlikely and trespassers are likely to be prosecuted. Its inaccessibility, combined with its tragic history, makes Mitchell Falls perhaps the most intriguing waterfall in the state.

For more on the history of Mitchell Falls and the Mount Mitchell region, I recommend these books:

A History of Mt. Mitchell and the Black Mountains, Exploration, Development, and Preservation

 (North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 1985).

Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountains, An Environmental History of the Highest Peaks in Eastern America

 (The University of North Carolina Press, 2003).

This is a photograph made by George Masa of an 1857 lithograph made by O. M. Lewis. (070A-01)

This is the original photo that George Masa photographed to create 070A-01. The photo was made in 1857 by O. M. Lewis. The Pack Library card states, "Color lithograph of Mitchell Falls, published 1857 by James M. Edney. Photo by O.M. Lewis. Lithography by Sarony, Major & Knapp (NYC). Mounted to rough board. This lithograph was the subject of an advertisement in the December 31, 1857 Asheville Spectator. The ad notes that 'this elegant lithograph, copied from an ambrotype which was taken from nature, by O.M. Lewis, of Asheville, N.C. giving a perfect view of the falls and surrounding scenery, is now ready for delivery." (070A-02)

George Masa made this photo of Thomas "Big Tom" Wilson's cabin. 9070A-04)

This is apparently a photo of a painting that used O. M. Lewis' 1857 photo as reference (see 070A-02). The Pack Library card states, "B&W photo of a painting of 'Mitchell's Falls' on Mitchell Creek on Mt Mitchell in Yancey County. Location of the fatal Falls of Dr. Elisha Mitchell in 1857. reproduced from album...by Gertrude Sprague of Black Mountain. Caption: "Mitchell Falls. From the only genuine and original oil painting, in the possession of Mrs. J. M. Stepp, Black Mountain NC.' Album loaned by Swannanoa Valley Historical Museum 1996. Mrs. Stepp's 'genuine and original' oil painting was apparently made of an 1857 lithograph...which was created from a photograph by O. M. Lewis of Asheville." (070A-05)

Edward Elmer Brown made this photo of Thomas "Big Tom" Wilson at Mitchell Falls, circa 1890. (070A-06)

W. Bingham Gragg made this image of Mitchell Falls in 1928. 070A-17 is a copy of this photo. (070A-08)

Historical photo of Mitchell Falls by W. Bingham Gragg. Date unknown. (070A-15)

Historical photo of Mitchell Falls by W. Bingham Gragg. Date unknown. (070A-16)

Historical photo of Mitchell Falls by W. Bingham Gragg. Date unknown. (070A-17)

This photo of Mitchell Falls was created by E. Douglas DePew and Bob Tinsley, and was featured in their portfolio book Land of Waterfalls, published in 1954. (070A-18)

This lithograph of Mitchell Falls appeared in Mountain Scenery, by Henry E. Colton, published in 1859. the caption lists Herline & Hensel as lithographers. (070A-19)

Thomas "Big Tom" Wilson, overlooks the pool at Mitchell Falls where he found Dr. Elisha Mitchell's body. This image was published in 

With Pen and Camera Thro' The Land Of The Sky

, published in 1900. The book does not cite the photographer, but it was likely Edward Elmer Brown, who photographed 070A-06 around 1890. The photos are very similar, with all the elements in the scene appearing identical except for the composition, Wilson's pose, and his lack of hat in this one. (070A-20)

This drawing depicting the removal of Dr. Elisha Mitchell's body from Mitchell Falls appeared in Fred M. Burnett's This Was My Valley, published in 1960. (070A-21)

Early postcard of Mitchell Falls. Date and photographer unknown. (070A-09)

The photo used to make this postcard of Mitchell Falls was taken by W. Bingham Gragg. Date unknown. (070A-12)

This early postcard of Mitchell Falls features a photo made by George Masa. Date unknown. (070A-13)

Mitchell Falls as it looked in 2006. (070A-08909)

Mitchell Falls as it looked in 2006. (070A-08952)

Mitchell Falls is on the northwestern slope of Mount Mitchell, south of Burnsville.

Get Your Bearings

In 1835, Dr. Elisha Mitchell—a University of North Carolina professor, minister, and geologist—made the first of four trips to the Black Mountains to measure their elevations. He determined that the range contained the highest peak in the East, surpassing New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, then considered the highest mountain.

Mitchell achieved much fame for his discovery, but it’s unclear whether he actually measured present-day Mount Mitchell. In the mid-1850s, Thomas Lanier Clingman—a politician and former student of Mitchell’s—challenged Mitchell’s claim that he had summited and measured the highest peak. A protracted argument ensued between Mitchell and Clingman, leading Mitchell to make a final trip to the Blacks in 1857 to gather evidence for supporting his claim. A massive search ensued after Mitchell had gone missing. Thomas “Big Tom” Wilson eventually found his body in the pool below the waterfall that now bears his name.

The reading I have done on the subject has me leaning toward the conclusion that Mitchell was not the first person to measure the highest peak in the East, although he may have been the first to identify it as the highest from afar. In fact, before Mitchell’s death, Clingman seems to have won the argument in the public eye. However, after Mitchell died, sympathetic public sentiment for the professor—stoked by his close allies—shifted the narrative to Mitchell’s favor. Most everyone began calling the mountain Mount Mitchell, and in 1886 the U.S. Geological Survey officially assigned the name to the mountain. The waterfall where Mitchell perished became Mitchell Falls and Sugar Camp Fork, the creek on which it lies, became Mitchell Creek.

Clingman abandoned the fight in the Black Mountains, and in 1858 started another one in the Smokies as a member of an expedition to measure the highest peak there. He claimed to have led the effort, but Samuel B. Buckley, the naturalist who may have done most of the measuring, said Clingman had played only a minor role. Even so, Clingmans Dome— the second-highest peak in the East—was named for him.

In a final twist of fate, even second place was not to be for the politician. On September 18, 2024 the U.S. Board on Geographic Names officially changed Clingmans Dome to Kuwohi, the Cherokee name for the mountain. Today, Clingman’s name is relegated to a lesser summit in the Black Mountain range: Clingmans Peak.

History

As the photos and captions in the image gallery reveal, there was confusion regarding Mitchell Falls among early photographers and illustrators.

Around 1873, Rufous Morgan made a stereographic image of waterfall and incorrectly labeled it Mitchell Falls. I don’t know where that waterfall is. It’s not upstream from Mitchell Falls and I doubt it’s downstream. My guess is that it’s on Big Poplar Creek, the next stream south of Mitchell Creek.

William A. Barnhill captioned a circa-1915 photo as Mitchell Falls, but the image doesn’t even look like a waterfall. It appears that it could be the top of a falls, but I don’t think Barnhill made it at Mitchell.

George Masa, active in the 1920s and early 1930s, made several trips to the area and photographed the real Mitchell Falls. But on one trip—presumably his first—he photographed a waterfall upstream from the true Mitchell and captioned it Micthell Falls.

Why the confusion about a waterfall so well known at the time? I’m guessing it had a lot to do with the difficult access to the falls. There were no roads or decent trails anywhere in the vicinity of the waterfall, and reaching it required a brutal hike down from Mount Mitchell or up from the Caney River valley. On either route it would be easy to take the wrong drainage, and if the photographer didn’t bring a reference image, they could have easily made a wrong assumption about any waterfall they found.

It’s also worth noting that Mitchell Falls is far from the biggest waterfall on Mitchell Creek. The waterfall Masa incorrectly captioned is about 100 feet high, while Mitchell Falls is only 25 feet, and there are several other drops on the creek higher than Mitchell. This could have misled someone who didn’t have a reference image to go by.

The 100-foot-high waterfall is also a half-mile upstream from Mitchell Falls, just below the confluence of the two main branches of Mitchell Creek. Someone following the drainage down from Mount Mitchell would encounter it first and might naturally assume it was Mitchell Falls.

The most bizarre example of Micthell Falls confusion comes from 

The Resources of North Carolina: Its Natural Wealth, Condition, and Advantages, as Existing in 1869. 

The book states, “Mitchell Falls, located on the eastern slope of Blue Ridge, near the Hickory Nut Gap road, is one of the most beautifully picturesque scenes to be found on this continent. The water falls over a solid rock three hundred feet high; trickling down its sides, empties itself into three large pools, and from thence down the mountain sides. The pools are clear as crystal; no bottom has ever been found to them.”

No such waterfall exists in North Carolina. The real Mitchell Falls is not on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge or anywhere near Hickory Nut Gap. I suspect the error came from a poor job interpreting Charles Lanman's 

, which quoted from Lanman and other writers, or perhaps both books led to the confusion. In one paragraph of Lanman's book, he describes Hickory Nut Falls and Bottomless Pools—the two waterfalls that fit the “Mitchell Falls” description in 

. If the reader isn't paying attention, they might think he is talking about one waterfall.30 In Colton's book, a lithograph of the real Mitchell Falls is included in the chapter on Hickory Nut Gap rather than the chapter on the Black Mountains.

Waterfalls misidentified as Mitchell Falls in historical photos

Waterfall Confusion

Mitchell Falls, Mitchell Creek, and Mount Mitchell are all obviously named for Dr. Elisha Mitchell, who is discussed in detail on this page. As far as I know, the waterfall has never had another name. The mountain and creek, however, are another story.

The mountain went through a period of changing names during the Mitchell/Clingman controversy.

I don’t know when Mitchell Creek was officially named. It has that name on a 1900 USGS map. Many historical accounts refer to it as Sugar Camp Fork. Interestingly, that same 1900 map labels the next stream south of Mitchell Creek as Sugarcamp Creek. That stream is known today as Big Poplar Creek.

I’ve also seen Mitchell Creek referred to as Cat-tail Branch. The 1900 map, however, places Cattail Branch several streams north of Mitchell Creek. Today, that waterway is known as Cattail Creek. 

The history of creek names in the vicinity of Mitchell Falls is very confusing. The 1947 USGS map shows Mitchell Creek as a tributary of Timber Creek. After Timber Creek and Ogle Creek meet, the stream flows for a short distance with an uncertain name until it is joined by Big Poplar Creek, at which point it appears that the name changes to Sugarcamp Creek for a short run to Cane River.

The 1935 USGS map shows Mitchell Creek flowing into Cane River, with Timber Creek labeled as a tributary of Mitchell. The stream south of Mitchell is labeled as Sugarcamp Creek, not Big Poplar Creek.

The 1902 USGS map appears to identify Oges Creek as the main stream draining the region into Cane River, with Timber Creek, Mitchell Creek, and Sugarcamp Creek as tributaries. The map doesn’t indicate whether Timber flows into Mitchell or Mitchell flows into Timber. The 1900 USGS shows the creeks the same as the 1902 map.

Whew! No wonder early photographers were confused!

Naming

Owing to the fact that Dr. Elisha Mitchell died at the waterfall in 1857, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Mitchell Falls figures prominently in historical literature. And, given the ornate style of the time, much of that writing consists of long sentences, few paragraph breaks, and lots of adjectives to send readers for a dictionary.

One of my favorite accounts is a letter written by Zebulon B. Vance—U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator, and North Carolina Governor—who was one of Mitchell’s staunchest allies in the Mitchell/Clingman controversy. The letter first appeared in the Asheville Spectator and was later republished by Shepherd M. Dugger in 

The Balsam Groves of Grandfather Mountain

 in 1895. The following excerpt from Shepherd’s book:

It was as they expected. The deceased had undertaken to go the same route to the settlements which he had formerly gone. They traced him rapidly down the precipices of the mountain, until they reached the stream (the Cat-tail fork), found his traces going down it—following on a hundred yards or so, they came to a rushing cataract some forty feet high, saw his footprints trying to climb around the edge of the yawning precipice, saw the moss torn up by the outstretched hand, and then—the solid, impressionless granite refused to tell more of his fate. But clambering hastily to the bottom of the roaring abyss, they found a basin worn out of solid rock by the frenzied torrent, at least fourteen feet deep, filled with clear and crystal waters cold and pure as the winter snow that generates them. At the bottom of this basin, quietly reposing, with outstretched arms, lay the mortal remains of the Rev. Elisha Mitchell, D.D., the good, the great, the wise, the simple-minded, the pure of heart, the instructor of youth, the disciple of knowledge and the preacher of Christianity! Oh what a friend to science and virtue, what youth among all the thousands that have listened to his teachings, what friend that has ever taken him by the hand, can think of this wild and awful scene unmoved by the humanity of tears! can think of those gigantic pyramidal firs, whose interlocking branches shut out the light of heaven, the many-hued rhododendron that freight the air with their perfume and lean weepingly over the waters, that crystal stream leaping down the great granites and hastening from the majestic presence of the mighty peak above, whilst in the deep pool below, where the weary waters rest but a single moment, lies the inanimate body of his dear friend and preceptor, apparently listening to the mighty requiem of the cataract! Truly “Man knoweth not his time, and the sons of men are entrapped in the evil, when it cometh suddenly upon them.” 

Literature

I’ve seen various heights given for Mitchell Falls, ranging from 25 to 60 feet. My measurements place it at 25 feet high.

Measuring

Mitchell Falls is located on one of the largest undeveloped tracts of private land in the Southern Appalachians. The property has always been safeguarded, but in 2012, the property owners assigned a conservation easement for the tract to Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, assuring that Big Tom Wilson Preserve, as it is known, will forever be protected. Although SAHC holds the conservation easement, the preserve is still privately owned and public access is strictly prohibited.

Conservation

Private

Mitchell Falls

Burnsville

Mount Mitchell

French Broad

25-foot waterfall where Dr. Elisha Mitchell fell to his death. 

 book, published in 2007. Captions are from that book.

 (circa 1890)
On June 27, 1857, Dr. Elisha Mitchell, professor at the University of North Carolina, fell to his death over the waterfall in this historical photo. Three days later, Thomas David Wilson—“Big Tom” as he was called—discovered his body. News of Mitchell’s death reverberated across the state and Big Tom became a larger-than-life legend. At the age of 64, he poses beside Mitchell Falls, 37 years after discovering Dr. Mitchell’s body. (070A-then-01)

 (February 2, 2007)
To this day, Elisha Mitchell and Big Tom Wilson are among the most legendary figures in the history of North Carolina. Mitchell Falls, Mitchell Creek, and Mount Mitchell are named after the professor. Big Tom has a mountain named after him, as well. Mitchell Falls is located on private property and is inaccessible to the public. I received special permission to visit the falls to obtain this photograph. (070A-now-01)

Accessibility:	—
County:	Yancey
River Basin:	French Broad
Watercourse:	Mitchell Creek
Watershed:	Small
Type and Height:	25-foot, near-vertical drop into small, deep pool
Landowner:	Private

Beauty Rating:	—
Elevation:	4480 feet
USGS Map:	Mount Mitchell
Hike Difficulty:	—
Hike Distance:	—
Waterfall GPS:	35.775988, -82.280998
Parking GPS:	—

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