Transylvania

Toxaway Falls lies immediately below the US 64/NC 281 bridge over the river. The bridge is 0.4 miles west of where NC 281 turns off north and 2.2 miles east of where it turns off south. A pullout is on the east side of the bridge.

Toxaway Falls is probably the only waterfall that can give Linville Falls a run for its money as the most storied falls in the state. And it’s the only significant waterfall that can boast having an entire lake flow over it within a few hours, if that were a thing to boast about. US 64, a major artery in southwestern North Carolina, crosses the river directly at the top of the falls.

I could go on and on. In fact, I did. Click Show More for the full scoop.

View roadside and difficult scramble

For a quick look at the falls, cross the road and walk along the catwalks on both sides of the bridge.

Everything I’m describing here s intended only for waterfallers who have experience getting off trail, crossing streams, and scrambling around on slippery rocks. Everyone else should view the waterfall only from the catwalk.

To experience Toxaway Falls fully, you must climb down and view each section from its base. You can reach the base of the small initial drop fairly easily by taking the short scramble path that descends on the river-left side of the falls.

Reaching the base of the main section and the levels downstream requires a more difficult bushwhack and scramble. For the lower sections, it will be easier to walk down the exposed rock on the river-right side, but this will require crossing the river. At average or low water levels, you can safely cross the river but if the flow is high, forget it.

Any rock surface that is perpetually wet from seepage or river flow could be extremely slippery, so stay on the dry rocks as much as possible. If the rocks are wet only from rain, they might not be very slick, but you won’t be able to differentiate between what’s wet from rain and what’s from seepage, so I recommend not going when it’s rainy.

Historical photo of Toxaway Falls. Date estimated at 1900. (038P-06)

Historical photo of Toxaway Falls, circa 1906. (038P-07)

Historical photo of Toxaway Falls, circa 1906. (038P-08)

Historical photo of Toxaway Falls, circa 1906. (038P-09)

Historical Photo of Toxaway Falls by Henry Scadin. (038P-10)

Toxaway Falls on the cover of The State magazine, August 1, 1953. (038P-11)

, 1905, a promotional booklet for Toxaway Inn and "The Toxaway System of Hotels." (038P-12)

Toxaway Falls on the cover of The State magazine, January 13, 1940. (038P-13)

Toxaway Falls on the cover of The State magazine, February 17,1951. (038P-14)

The Scenic Resources of the Tennessee Valley

illustration of the Toxaway Falls Dam break from 

The Walton War and Tales of the Great Smoky Mountains

Early postcard of Toxaway Falls dated 1908. (038P-01)

Early postcard of Toxaway Falls. (038P-02)

Early postcard of Toxaway Falls. (038P-03)

Early postcard of Toxaway Falls. (038P-04)

Early postcard of Toxaway Falls. (038P-05)

The main upper drop of Toxaway Falls. (038P-268528)

Autumn view of Toxaway Falls from the walkway along the road. (038P-08425)

Autumn view Toxaway Falls from the walkway along the road. (038P-48533)

Winter view Toxaway Falls from the walkway along the road. (038P-54274)

Isolation of the main upper drop of Toxaway Falls. (038P-268483)

Isolation of the main upper drop of Toxaway Falls. (038P-268485)

Isolation of the main upper drop of Toxaway Falls. (038P-268489)

Isolation of the main upper drop of Toxaway Falls. (038P-268490)

Isolation of the main upper drop of Toxaway Falls. (038P-268500)

Isolation of the main upper drop of Toxaway Falls. (038P-268504)

Isolation of the main upper drop of Toxaway Falls. (038P-268508)

Isolation of the main upper drop of Toxaway Falls. (038P-268509)

Isolation of the main upper drop of Toxaway Falls. (038P-268512)

Aerial view of Toxaway Falls and Toxaway Lake. This is an old film shot that I made in the early 1990s. (0015F)

Aerial view of Toxaway Falls and Toxaway Lake. This is an old film shot that I made in the early 1990s. (0016F)

Aerial view of Toxaway Falls and Toxaway Lake. I made this photo in 2006. (038P-09240)

Aerial view of Toxaway Falls and Toxaway Lake. I made this photo in 2006. (038P-09252)

Aerial view of Toxaway Falls. (038P-161926)

Aerial view of Toxaway Falls. (038P-161937)

Aerial view of Toxaway Falls. (038P-161938)

Toxaway Falls is located along US 64, between Rosman and Cashiers, just below Lake Toxaway.

Get Your Bearings

To view Toxaway Falls, you must cross US 64 to get on the catwalk. If you think that walking across a two-lane highway wouldn’t be a big deal, you’ve never tried to cross this highway at this location. A big curve and a lot of cars and big trucks going much too fast (especially the trucks) make this a harrowing experience. Look both ways and run like hell!

Special Considerations

Researching the origin of the name “Toxaway” has been a frustrating experience.

“Somewhere on it was the old Cherokee town of Duquasa’i, pronounced approximately ‘Duksa’i,’ which became Toxaway to English speakers. The meaning of the word is lost.

“In fact, popular legend has it that the word “Toxaway” is the anglicized version of the Cherokee phrase “ta ha wey” meaning land of the red bird.”

“The name Toxaway comes from the Cherokee Indians, meaning Red Bird.”

“Dukas'i, Dukwas'i—The correct form of the name commonly written Toxaway, applied to a former Cherokee settlement in S.C., and the creek upon which it stood, and extreme headstream of Keowee river having its source in Jackson county, N.C. The meaning of the name is lost, although it has been wrongly interpreted to mean ‘place of shedding tears.’”

“Toxaway notes the ‘Place of the Red Bird.’”

“Lake Toxaway, named for the anglicized version of the Cherokee
word for cardinal, is North Carolina’s largest private lake.”

“the likely origin of Toxaway: It was a corruption of the Indian pronunciation of “Tuckahoe” (itself an English approximation), an important food source for native Americans.”

“’Land of the red bird’ (from the Cherokee phrase ‘ta ha wey)”

 (an important Native American food source)”

See what I mean? One might conclude that it’s worth considering the “red bird” hypothesis as having merit since there are so many references to it. But we must remember that many of these references are simply regurgitated from a single source.

As Stuart Ferguson says in an article for the July 2022 issue of 

, “The origin of the name ‘Toxaway’ is lost in the fog of years and the clash of Cultures. …And we salute beautiful Toxaway, whatever it means!”

Summer Resorts and Points of Interest of Virginia, Western North Carolina, and North Georgia

High Falls is among the most common waterfall names for North Carolina waterfalls, usually given to the highest waterfall on a particular stream. According to Jim Bob Tinsley, Toxaway Falls was once known as High Falls.

According to a website article from 2003 that is no longer online, Toxaway Falls was known as Bagwell Shoals in the mid-1800s.

Naming

“LAKE TOXAWAY DAM WASHED AWAY; GREAT FLOOD OF WATER SWEEPING TOWARDS WESTERN SOUTH CAROLINA”

Headline in The News and Courier, Charleston, SC on August 14, 1916

The development of the Toxaway Falls area began after the turn of the 20th century with the construction of the lake and a 500-room luxury resort called Toxaway Inn. The region was billed as “America’s Switzerland.” The resort attracted a who’s who of the country’s wealthy and elite. On the guest list were names including Rockefeller, Edison, Ford, Duke, Firestone, and Vanderbilt.

Lake Toxaway’s heyday ended in 1916. That July, two hurricanes hit western North Carolina, causing extensive flooding and likely weakening the earthen Lake Toxaway Dam. (Numerous reports state that the dam was already in danger from having been built on a spring.) In August, a third hurricane dumped a reputed 20-plus inches of rain within a 24-hour period. It proved too much for the dam. On August 13, 1916, it failed.

More than five billion gallons of water poured over Toxaway Falls and through the gorge below. The raging torrent scoured the riverbanks along the more than two miles of gorge from Toxaway Falls to Wintergreen Falls, leaving nothing but bedrock. The destruction caused by the flood is evident today in the great expanse of rock at Toxaway Falls. Before the dam broke, trees grew right to the river and visitors couldn’t see the waterfall unless they were right at it. Along the river below Wintergreen Falls remains evidence of the flood in the form of boulder levees, some 30 feet high and containing rocks the size of train cars.

With Lake Toxaway reduced to a 640-acre mud flat and the resort owners mired in litigation resulting from the dam failure, Toxaway Inn closed. It stood dormant until torn down around 1947. The lakebed quickly grew over and remained that way until 1960, when Lake Toxaway Company took over the property and rebuilt the lake as part of the Lake Toxaway Estates development.

Lake Toxaway’s Heyday And The Dam Break

Toxaway Falls is often listed at 240 feet high. That’s the measurement Tinsley gives in 

.178 I list it at about 250 feet in the third edition of 

. If you count the contour lines on the Reid USGS quadrangle, the height is between 240 and 300 feet. If you count contour lines on a LiDAR map, it’s about 280 feet.

So, how high is it really? I measured the waterfall very carefully with my rangefinder and arrived at 301 feet for the height. This is starting directly under the US 64 bridge and ending at the pool where all the falling water stops and the river makes the sharp bend.

The main section near the top of the waterfall is 85 feet high, not including the uppermost small section. This section measures 39 feet from the base up to the point directly below the bridge. Most people would consider both the 85-foot section and the 39-foot section as the single main tier of Toxaway Falls, including me. The 124-foot combined height of these matches the 125-foot height that is often listed for this section.

I should note that the 1-foot difference for a waterfall this high is meaningless. If I were to measure it again, I wouldn’t expect to arrive precisely at the same 124-foot height for the upper tier or the 301-foot overall height. While the rangefinder is accurate given optimal conditions, there are enough variables to easily skew the measurements by a few feet on a waterfall like this. 

Measuring

Back in the golden days of Lake Toxaway Inn, a power plant operated at Toxaway Falls, supplying power for the inn. The 1916 dam burst washed it away and as far as I know, no trace of it remains.

Power Generation

Toxaway Falls has no doubt been the subject for countless artists. As I explain on the Art page, I only feature contemporary artists if their work was created for free public viewing. I don’t know of any modern Toxaway Falls works that qualify, but I do know of a nice older painting of the falls.

Corydon Bell, along with his wife, Thelma, moved to Sapphire in 1944. They wrote several children’s books together, with Corydon creating illustrations for them. Corydon was among several artists who worked for Ford Motor Company, with their works exhibited around the world. Ford later donated the works to Smithsonian American Art Museum. One of these works is 

, circa 1954. Unfortunately, it is not currently on public display.

It might surprise you to know that of the twenty-one movie or television productions that I know of featuring North Carolina waterfalls, Toxaway Falls appears in four of them, tied with Triple Falls at the top of the list. The four productions are 

 scene, with their captives in tow, the Shawnee walk out onto the rocks at the lowest drop of Toxaway Falls. Mary approaches Wildcat and says, “Will we stay here, sir.” Wildcat points up to the top of the falls and replies, “Up there.” Then the party starts climbing up the falls.

It’s a trivial scene that adds utterly nothing to the story beyond showcasing the waterfall. Of course, waterfalls featured in these movies heavily influenced the director’s vision for how the scenes played out. But in this case, I can’t help but think the scene did not even exist in the original script and was added only after the director saw the waterfall. I imagine him creating this inconsequential dialog as an excuse to show the falls. I may be way off base but watch the scene and see what you think.

Read more about these movies and the waterfall scenes on the 

Hollywood

The story of Gus Baty’s rescue from Whiteside Mountain is legend among longtime residents of the Highlands region. In 1911, Baty fell several feet and cheated certain death by hanging onto a small shrub while dangling off the edge of the mountain. Charlie Wright rescued Baty in an act of heroism that won him a gold medal from Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. 

In a scene of cruel irony, Wright plunged his Model T Ford down a cliff at Toxaway Falls in 1927, killing him instantly. Accounts of the accident vary, and it is uncertain if the car went over the waterfall or a smaller cliff beside the falls.

Tragic End For Hero

I’m old enough to harbor much sadness for things lost, both architectural and natural. I can’t count the number of mills, covered bridges, mining buildings, country stores, and other structures that are no longer with us but would be destinations for travelers if they were. I’m happy that Toxaway Falls Stand is not on this list.

The cobbled-up stand near Toxaway Falls might not engender the same regard from some that I place upon it. It’s just an old beat-up tourist stand. But it is one thing that remains from my earliest adventures in waterfall country, and it gives me a good feeling when I drive by it.

Vincent (Vince) Owen opened the stand in 1947 on the west side of Toxaway Falls and moved it to the present site when the new Lake Toxaway Dam was constructed in the early 1960s.

 The stand closed for a period, I think in the early 2000s, and for years I expected it to be gone every time I drove by. The old shack of a building not only survived, but it was also recently reopened for business. Yay!

Toxaway Falls Stand

At first glance Toxaway Falls might not seem to be an overly photogenic waterfall, but take a deep dive into it and you’ll find it to be one of the better waterfalls in the state for photography. The problem is that taking that deep dive requires a lot of effort and careful considerations.

From the catwalk beside the highway, you can make decent compositions, but they show very little nuance of the waterfall. For that, you must climb down to the base of all the individual sections. Once you’re down there, be sure to explore compositions that run the gamut from extreme wide angle to telephoto. And take advantage of the distinct coloration on the rocks by highlighting it in some of the composition.

For details about exploring all the levels of Toxaway Falls, see the Hiking Directions section.

Photography

When Gorges State Park was initially established, Toxaway Falls was not included within the property boundaries. The park added the falls in a later acquisition, but unfortunately the tract includes only the property on the east side of the waterfall. Everything on the west side is private, as you might deduce after seeing all the ugly condominiums built on that side.

As is typically the case, the property line runs along the center of the river, so technically you can’t legally cross the river to the west side without getting permission, which I suspect would not be obtainable. I have no idea what would be considered the legal center of the river given how much it can vary according to water level, but I’ve never had an issue with being on the west side and staying close to the water.

Years ago, when the only condo building was the one up toward the top of the falls, the view of the falls wasn’t over affected. But after the other buildings were constructed and the trees cleared so the condo owners would have their own personal view of the falls, the view for the rest of us was severely impacted.

In giving Toxaway Falls an 8 beauty rating, I’m taking the entire waterfall into consideration while viewing each section with those condos to my back. If there was nothing but trees on both sides of the waterfall, I’d probably rate it as a 10.   

Public And Private Property 

“You’re gonna die. Don’t run it!”

Said the cop, just before Pat Kellar goes over the main upper section of Toxaway Falls in a little plastic boat.

I’d like to make it clear up front that I think anybody who would even consider kayaking Toxaway Falls is nuts. I mean, bat dookie crazy nuts. But then I think about how many times people have told me what I do is nuts with all the “crazy” creekwalking and bushwhacking I do. It’s all about experience and personal ability, I guess.

As best as I can determine, Pat Keller was not born on this planet and when his body entered Earth’s atmosphere it replaced his veins with ice water and greatly altered his brain cells. How else could he have volunteered to run Toxaway Falls on March 29, 2005? 179

As far as I know, that was the first and last time anyone has run the upper section of the falls. I hope it stays that way. The next person attempting it might be human and the slightest little thing could go wrong. Toxaway River and those who value continued access don’t need that kind of attention.

Seriously?

Toxaway Falls sits in the middle of waterfall country, so take your pick. Gorges State Park and the waterfalls of Horsepasture River are close by off NC 281. A little farther down the road is Whitewater Falls, a spectacular waterfall that is easily reached.

Accessibility:	Roadside view and steep scramble
County:	Transylvania
River Basin:	Savannah
Watercourse:	Toxaway River
Watershed:	Small/medium
Type and Height:	Long, multilevel falls, 301 feet high
Landowner:	Gorges State ParkPrivate

Beauty Rating:	8
Elevation:	2960 feet
USGS Map:	Reid NC/SC
Hike Difficulty:	View roadside and difficult scramble
Hike Distance:	A few yards to roadside viewpoint
Waterfall GPS:	35.122239, -82.92756
Trailhead GPS:	35.124316, -82.931081

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