Tallulah Gorge

Resort hotels and bars sprang up to serve the tourist trade, which, after the addition of the railway, swelled to as many as 2,000 people on any given Sunday.

In 1883, tightrope walker Professor Bachman crossed the gorge as part of a publicity stunt for a local hotel.

Once the dam was completed in 1913, the roar of the Tallulah Falls (which could be heard for miles from the gorge) was quieted, and tourism dwindled.

The word's etymology remains uncertain, and it does not clearly match either Cherokee or nearby Muscogean languages such as Creek.

In his book Georgia Place-names, Kenneth K. Krakow cites John Mooney, an authority on the Cherokee language who traced the name from the Native American word talulu or taruri but concluded that both forms are untranslatable.

[1] Because of the variation in sunlight, shade, and moisture caused by the steep cliffs, several different ecosystems exist in and around the canyon-like gorge.