Mitchell Falls is a waterfall located in

Yancey County Yancey County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,470. Its county seat is Burnsville. This land was inhabited by the Cherokee prior to European settlement, as was much of ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

on the slope of

Mount Mitchell Mount Mitchell, known in Cherokee as Attakulla, is the highest peak of the Appalachian Mountains and the highest peak in mainland eastern North America. It is located near Burnsville in Yancey County, North Carolina in the Black Mountain subra ...

, the highest mountain in the Appalachian Mountain chain and highest point in the eastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The falls, the mountain and its related state park are named for Elisha Mitchell, a professor who, while confirming his measurements of the mountain, fell over a rocky ledge above the falls to his death on June 27, 1857.

Visiting the falls

The falls are located downstream from "far downstream of the Mount Mitchell State Park boundary" on a private property hunting reserve. Access to the falls is normally prohibited but has been allowed in the past to groups and photographers by special permission. As the landowner has been an environmentally-conscious steward for the tract of land on which the falls lie, people wishing to visit the falls are highly encouraged to respect this and not to trespass in an attempt to see the falls but wait until such a trip is organized.

Nearby falls

* Several unnamed falls, including a fall occasionally mislabeled as Mitchell Falls *

Walker Falls Walker Falls is a 45-foot cascading waterfall in Buncombe County, North Carolina. Its ease of access makes it a popular destination for waterfall hunters. It is in a region of Buncombe County that has a large number of small waterfalls and severa ...

* Douglas Falls *

Glassmine Falls Glassmine Falls is an ephemeral waterfall in Buncombe County, North Carolina, on Glassmine Branch, near Barnardsville, NC. It is located below the Blue Ridge Parkway around milepost 362. Geology When it flows, the falls slides down the rock face ...

Setrock Creek Falls Setrock Creek Falls is a waterfall in the Pisgah National Forest, in North Carolina. Geology The falls is located at the base of Mount Mitchell, the tallest mountain in the United States east of the Mississippi River, on Setrock Creek, a small tr ...

* Roaring Fork Falls *

Whiteoak Creek Falls {{Infobox waterfall , photo = Whiteoak_creek_falls_yancey_county_nc.jpg , photo_caption = , name = Whiteoak Creek Falls , location = Pisgah National Forest, Yancey County, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina , type = Cascade, Slide , ...

Occasional published works have erroneously identified the falls which has created some confusion as to which waterfall in the area is actually Mitchell Falls. Kevin Adams' book ''North Carolina Waterfalls'' misidentifies the falls from mislabeled photographs by

George Masa George Masa (c. 1881 – June 21, 1933), born Masahara Izuka, in Osaka, Japan, was a businessman and professional large-format photographer. He lived and worked in the United States. Creating a new life in America Masa arrived in the United Sta ...

and Rufus Morgan. The falls listed in the Adams book use photographs by George Masa. The author updated his website with the corrected information and acknowledged the difficulty of many people identifying the correct waterfall because of four historical photos. All three falls (Mitchell Falls, those photographed by George Masa, and those photographed by Rufus Morgan) are on private property.

References

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External links

Craggy Gardens
at NCWaterfalls.com

at NCNatural.com Waterfalls of North Carolina Protected areas of Yancey County, North Carolina Pisgah National Forest Waterfalls of Yancey County, North Carolina