Skip to main content

Noccolula Falls - Gadsden, Alabama

Legend says that a young Cherokee princess named Noccolula, on her wedding day, wishing not to marry the man her father arranged for her, leaped to her death at the site of a great waterfall.

Noccolula Falls, a 90-foot cascade into the Black Creek Gorge near Gadsden, is one of Northeastern Alabama's most popular spots for hiking and camping.  Located at the western end of Lookout Mountain, the falls are surrounded by a city park, campground, and a popular wedding chapel.

Noccolula translates to the "place where water thunders." The falls, whose water flow can vary by season, are an impressive sight with many great vantage points.


The land surrounding the falls changed hands several times in the 19th century.  A former Gadsden mayor, Rueben A. Mitchell, purchased the land surrounding the falls in 1909.  He intended to sell the land to the city for a future park.  The City of Gadsden purchased the land in 1950 and began efforts to convert it into a city park.


The statue of Noccolula that graces the falls was commissioned by the Gadsden Women's Club.  Installed in 1969, the statue depicts Princess Noccolula as she is about to leap into the falls.


Noccolula Falls and the hiking trails that surround them are free of charge.  Noccolula Falls Park is operated by the City of Gadsden Park.  The park charges a small admission fee of $8/adults & $6 for children/seniors. Kids under three are free.  The park has mini-golf, a petting zoo, two miniature trains, a botanical garden, and more.

All photos were taken by post author - March 16, 2023.

Sources & Links:

How To Get There:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ghost Town Tuesday; Mannfield, FL and the stairway to Hell

Back in 2015 I went searching the Lecanto Sand Hills for the original Citrus County Seat known as Mannfield.  Unlike Centrailia in Hernando County and Fivay in Pasco County I did find something worth seeing. Mannfield is located in the Lecanto Sand Hill section of Withlacoochee State Forest somewhat east of the intersection of Citrus County Route 491 and Mansfield Road. Mannfield was named after Austin Mann and founded in Hernando County in 1884 before Citrus County Split away.  In 1887 Citrus County was split from northern Hernando County while Pasco County was spun off to the south.  Mannfield was selected as the new Citrus County seat due to it being near the county geographic center.  Reportedly Mannfield had as many as 250 people when it was the County Seat.  The town included various businesses one might include at the time, even a sawmill which was common for the area.  In 1891 Citrus County voted to move it's seat to Inverness which set the s...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and temporary Hawaii Route 11

The 1959 Gousha Road map of Hawaii features two largely unknown references in the form of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11.  Both corridors are shown running from the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park east to Glenwood via Volcano Village.  At the time Hawaii Route 11 was using the so-called "Volcano Road" which was constructed as a modernization of Mamalahoa Highway during 1927-1928.  This blog will examine the two map references and will attempt to determine what they might indicate.  The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11 Hawaii Route 11 is part of Mamalahoa Highway (the Hawaii Belt Road) and is the longest Hawaiian State Route at 121.97 miles.  The highway begins at the mutual junction of Hawaii Route 19 and Hawaii Route 190 in Kailua-Kona.  From Kailua-Kona the routing of Hawaii Route 11 crosses the volcanic landscapes of southern side of the Big Island.  Hawaii Route 11 terminates at Hawaii Route 19/Ka...