History of Noccalula Falls

Yesterday, the boys and I went to a class about the history of Noccalula Falls. I don't know WHY I was surprised to see as many homeschoolers there as there were. I should have been surprised there were so many OTHER people there.

I'm not including a link because the Gadsden-Etowah tourism website and the City of Gadsden website have broken links and "under construction" since 2005 in the sections about the Falls. The gentlemen teaching the class has written a book, I believe, but I cannot find it at Amazon.com. I will try to find more information at next week's class. I would definitely like to read it, because the tidbits he shared were VERY interesting.

One of those stories was that the oldest carving in the park is under the Falls. So, of course, we set off in search of it, and FOUND IT!

The first picture is of the carving itself. It's hard to see, but it is right in the middle of the photo, and says FAXON 1859. I'm not sure what Faxon means -- a family name, or a company perhaps. At one point in time, according to stories, there was a dance floor under the Falls. Was this perhaps the name of it?? I don't know. I just know that 1859 is OLD, before my time old, pre-Civil War old, and that made it "Cool" according to my boys.

The second picture is of the boys pointing to the carving. Can you tell from the picture how hard it was to see?? I had almost given up on our finding it, and we owe it to the eagle eyes of BOYS. I would have looked right over it.

The third picture is my guys silhouetted against the Falls. Now, Granny has a horrible fear of my boys drowning in the Falls. A number of people have done just that. So I want to say that our boys were not alone under the Falls. There were TWO adults with them. Also, notice the distance between where my boys are standing the edge of the rocks. We were VERY careful. Granny, no worries. We were VERY careful.

The last one is of my guys climbing rocks at the Falls. It's from a previous trip, but there was more of this on yesterday's trip, too.

These were all taken with my phone, so they aren't very good quality. The light spray under the Falls annoyed focus apparently, and it doesn't have a flash. But it was the best I could do since my camera was home downloading photos off the card.