Toccoa Falls is a waterfall with a vertical drop of 186 feet, on the campus of Toccoa Falls College in Stephens County, Georgia. Toccoa comes from a Cherokee word that roughly translates to “beautiful”.
Toccoa Creak is a stream in Georgia, carrying Toccoa Falls. Kelly Barnes Dam was an eathen embankment dam, utilizing the flow of Toccoa Creek for hydroelectricity operations. The embankment dam was located about 2,000 feet upstream from Toccoa Falls and mostly consisted of residual soils and silt. The dam sat on a foundation of silt and stable biotate gneiss.
In 1977, the Kelly Barnes Dam on Toccoa Creek burst after torrential rains and flooded Toccoa Falls College campus, killing 39 people. The dam was never rebuilt. There is a memorial that stands downstream, where visitors of Toccoa Falls can pay their respects to the dead.
References:
Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, April 1). Toccoa Falls. Wikipedia. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toccoa_Falls.
Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, April 1). Kelly Barnes Dam. Wikipedia. From https://en.wikidark.org/wiki/Kelly_Barnes_Dam.