Rachel: Hey guys we're at High Falls State Park in Jackson, Georgia.
It's about 35 minutes north of Macon.
It's home to the largest cascading
waterfall south of Atlanta at 135 feet.
We're about 10 minutes from Indian
Springs State Park. Which is the oldest
state park in Georgia.
There's just a ton of history in this
area and in High Falls State Park
specifically. So we're gonna go check it out and we'll
let you know some historic facts on the
way.
All right so High Falls in the 1800s was
a
booming prosperous industrial town.
They had so many things. They had a
gristmill a
powerhouse a sawmill blacksmith
a shoe factory a cotton gin numerous
stores
and a hotel actually
but in the 1880s the railroad decided
in favor of Jackson to bypass High Falls
and essentially High Falls became a
ghost town.
The only things left over from that
thriving period
are ruins from the old grist mill and
from the old powerhouse.
Everything else from that time here just
kind of got destroyed
but i'm actually standing where the old
gristmill was
and there's a wall back here and some
ruins behind me that were
part of the gristmill and i'm actually
standing right beside
they all grind stone that they used in
the grist mill.
So that's pretty cool and we're gonna go
check out the
ruins from the old powerhouse next. So
Old Alabama Road was one of the
oldest roads ever constructed in central
and western georgia. It wasn't a paved road. It was just a
little dirt road
and this bridge is
the only thing left of that road and it
was the um
the only crossing of Towlaiga River in
this area.
There was a toll person on either end of
the bridge
and it was only a one car bridge um but
in 1994
there was a really big flood and it
washed out most of that bridge
and so this is the only thing left of
Old Alabama Road, the oldest
or one of the oldest roads in Georgia.
GA DNR NArrator: It will be remembered as the flood
of 1994. The worst natural disaster
ever to strike the state of Georgia
It began as a tropical storm in the gulf
of Mexico
Alberto was its name and in its wake
it left much of the southern part of
this state underwater
the storm moved into Georgia early in
July
it stalled over the state dumping inch
after relentless inch of rain
the Flint River and the Ocmulgee River
along with countless smaller streams
swelled over their banks and soon
covered thousands of
acres of woodlands and farm fields
the water swept through town after town
flooding houses stores and churches
roads and bridges quickly became
impassable
communities lost water power and
telephone service
in many places people were completely
cut off
from food from medicine and from
emergency supplies
Man 1: I don't really know how your men are
going through what they're going through
on this cemetery in this graveyard
that is just some unreal conditions
the things they're doing in there i
don't know how they're putting up with
it.
Man 2: Well chief our people know and are reacting to it
and realize that the very people that
they're working with
have friends and relatives that are
buried in the cemetery
Man 3: There's no way to describe this this is
a 500 year
disaster Georgia has never seen anything
like it the cost of it is unbelievable
the cost in
human suffering is unbelievable the crop
damage is unbelievable
house damage is unbelievable you think
about a typical flood you see somebody's
house
you see a foot or two of water in the
house here we're talking about water
going over the top of two-story houses
not just one or two houses literally
hundreds and hundreds of houses
it is it's just absolutely unbelievable
Rachel: So if you look right over there, there's another view of the old grist mill.
Just ruins of it and then the wall you
can see a walkway where they used to
go in and out I guess. 
All right so we are on the historic trail it's half a mile
and the remnants of the old powerhouse
are actually on this trail so we're
gonna go check it out.
All right so we've reached the end of
the historic trail
and we're pretty sure these are some
remnants of the old powerhouse.
We can actually see a structure down
through the woods closer to
the river and that we think this
connects to
it looks pretty clear that it connects
to that um
and if you cross the road there's the
beginning of the
tranquility trail which is about two miles.
All right so if you look right down there it looks like that's where the pipes or
whatever uh connected to the powerhouse
and so we're gonna
continue down this little trail and see
if we can check out the powerhouse.
Nick: So yeah you can definitely see them now that we're on this little bitty trail. All
these things that used to hold I guess big ole pipes.
Rachel: I don't know.
Nick: Who knows what it is but or what it was but yeah I can see the structure we're
coming up on it.
Rachel: So we made it to
the powerhouse. It's actually really huge
um but actually in the 1900s
Georgia Power owned this area and were
doing the whole hydroelectric power
dealio but in 1960 they shut it down
in this area and they gave it to the Towaliga, not Towaliga
Hiwassee Timber Company who then
donated it
in 1966 to the Georgia Wildlife
and Fish and Game Association and they
turned it into a state park
so in 1966 High Falls became a state park
So this area was originally inhabited by
Creek Indians
and we just learned something new about
the Old Alabama Road
uh apparently it was originally a Native
American route.
so that's pretty interesting. 
All right so we are
about to do this trail that runs beside
the waterfall
and the river it's not too long of a
trail so we're gonna
hike it. It's an out and back trail. Hike
down there come back and
head on out of here.
All right so I know it looks super fun
to get out there and swim and
a lot of people do get down there and
swim but it's actually not allowed.
It's prohibited um because it can
actually, be pretty dangerous.
It doesn't look dangerous right now but
when we get those heavy rains and stuff
it can get pretty dangerous. Not too long ago some teenagers were
walking out there and actually got stuck
and they had to get
like flight rescued out of there and
um they actually got tickets for it so
that's not good, not fun. So don't do it. I know it looks awesome but
don't do it because you'll get in trouble.
All right guys so that was High Falls
State Park.
The park is i know it's just a small
park in the middle of Georgia
but it's got so much to offer. There's a
650 acre lake
with apparently really good fishing uh
private boats are permissible
or you can rent a canoe a kayak
a paddleboard a paddle boat from the
park. They've got tent campsites, RV and trailer
camp sites. They've actually got a paddle in
pioneer campsite that you could check
out which sounds pretty cool
and they've got yurts which are actually
pretty cute
down by the lake. They've got playgrounds
and four and a half miles of hiking
trails. A beautiful waterfall. They've just got
so much to offer and there's a lot to do
in the area.
There's actually about five minutes down
the road, not even five minutes down the
road, is a water park that's got two water
slides, a kid's play a splash pad play area
and a pool. It's not much but it's
something fun to do on a hot summer day.
There's also Indian Springs and um
The Whistle Stop Cafe down in Juliette
which is actually where
Fried Green Tomatoes was filmed. So
there's a ton to do in this area
and it's such a great park and a nat... and
a great
historic area to check out if you're
ever down here.
Thank you for watching. We hope you
enjoyed it and hope you learned a little
bit about
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