Tallulah Falls, GA

Tallulah Falls is a small town in Habersham and Rabun counties beside the Tallulah River. The town took its name from the nearby waterfall, though the falls now lie beneath Tallulah Falls Lake. The 2020 census counted 199 residents. U.S. 23-441 bisects the town on its way into the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains, and the highway has helped keep Tallulah Falls connected to the visitors drawn by the gorge. The Georgia General Assembly incorporated the town in 1885.

ATTRSprinkle, Brad Related names: Georgia Highway Department, Designer Virginia Bridge Company of Roanoke, VA / Public domain

Railroad arrival in the late nineteenth century turned the falls into a major travel destination, with hotels, boarding houses, and a depot serving visitors. A 1921 fire erased much of that earlier resort district, while Tallulah Gorge State Park, established in the 1990s, brought a new public focus to the river, gorge, trails, and lake. Downtown Bluegrass Square hosts live music during the warmer months, adding a local evening tradition to the visitor traffic. Tallulah Falls is small in population but large in landscape, with the road, lake, gorge, and town history all packed into one narrow mountain setting.