Santeetlah – Two waterfalls in the Santeetlah Creek watershed have been formally named, with a decision delayed in naming a third.
All three waterfalls are within a short distance of each other, just off of Upper Santeetlah Road.
The falls are located a short distance from Upper Santeetlah Road, but are difficult to see from the road – even after autumn leaves have fallen – because of rhododendron and other thick underbrush.
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names received two proposals for an unnamed 25-foot-high falls on Santeetlah Creek in Graham County. The waterfall is located in the Unicoi Mountains in Nantahala National Forest.
An unidentified Georgia-based waterfall photographer and author of several books about waterfalls in the Southeastern U.S. proposed the name Lisas Falls, which he said would commemorate his sister Lisa Morrison, who died in 1961 at the age of four years and four months.
He reports that while visiting the area in the spring of 2021, he was inspired to give her name to the falls. He also reported that the name Lisa’s Falls will be in his new book and is in use by waterfall enthusiasts, but did not provide any further details.
When asked to comment on the proposal, the Graham County Commissioners submitted a counterproposal for the name Stewart Falls, which would commemorate the Stewart family, “who lived along Santeetlah Creek prior to U.S. Forest Service acquisition.”
Stewart Cabin is located approximately a 1/2-mile downstream from the falls, and the two ridges located to the southeast are named Doc Stewart Ridge and Art Stewart Ridge.
The county did not provide any other biographical details, but a search of online genealogical records shows that a number of individuals named Stewart acquired land grants in the area as early as 1885.
A Tennessee Valley Family Removal and Population Readjustment Case File notes that C.J. Stewart was relocated from nearby Proctor in 1943, “to make way for TVA dams and hydroelectric power plants.”
The board also received two proposals for an unnamed 155-foot-high waterfall on an unnamed tributary of Santeetlah Creek that flows off the north slope of Little Huckleberry Knob in Graham County. The waterfall is located in the Unicoi Mountains in Nantahala National Forest.
The same Georgia-based photographer/author proposed the name Little Huckleberry Falls – a reference to the nearby Little Huckleberry Knob, saying once again that it will be the name of the waterfall in his new book.
When asked to comment on the proposal, the Graham County Commissioners submitted a counterproposal for the name Santeetlah Bluff Falls, stating that the falls are some distance from Little Huckleberry Knob. They are on a tributary of Santeetlah Creek that flows down through the middle of the area locally known as Santeetlah Bluffs.
The U.S. Forest Service reports that the falls are locally known as Santeetlah Falls, but has no objection to either form of the name.
There is a third unnamed fall in the Unicoi Mountains on Santeetlah Creek in Graham County that a proponent from Douglasville, Ga., would like named Atsadi Falls. The term “atsadi” is Cherokee for fish. The proponent reports that the name is already in use locally by waterfall enthusiasts.
The name Bemis Camp Falls was put forward by the Graham County Board of Commissioners as a counterproposal to the proposed name Atsadi Falls. The name Bemis is from a long-defunct logging company that operated in the area for years and had a logging camp less than a mile from the falls.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will be consulted to find any objections to naming the waterfall Bemis Camp Falls. No vote was taken.