For more than 100 years, thousands of people jumped on the Tallulah Falls Railway, also known as “The TF” and “TF & Huckleberry,” which ran from Cornelia, Georgia, to Franklin, North Carolina. Most of these passengers were from the Atlanta area, seeking the cooler temperatures of the Blue Ridge Mountains, especially during the summer months. The train took them to a wonder referred to as the “Niagara of the South”: Tallulah Falls, a two-mile long and nearly 1,000-foot-deep canyon that includes a series of six cascading waterfalls.
Starting in the late 1800s, several train depots stood between Cornelia and Franklin. But today, only one train depot remains in the area for which the railway was named: Tallulah Falls train depot.
As automobiles became popular and more affordable, fewer passengers boarded the TF, and its final run was on March 25, 1961. Yet, the depot that experienced a tremendous amount of activity and foot traffic lives on as popular café and coffee bar while retaining its historic significance. A Georgia state historic marker near the parking area tells a part of the Tallulah Falls train depot’s story, and a peek around the outside and inside of the structure offers more evidence of what countless passengers experienced.
The exterior walls are made of local stone and stucco, with decorative corbels under a beadboard overhanging roof. One side, now a deck and a seating area, is where the depot’s platform once allowed ticket holders to board and disembark the trains. Hanging from the distinct orange terracotta roof is a Tallulah Falls sign. It notes that Franklin is 37 miles west, while Cornelia is 22 miles to the east.
Inside the building are seating areas where there were once waiting rooms and a telegraph booth. Preserved beadboard ceilings and walls fill the historic space. Black and white photographs adorn the walls and help visitors imagine past events at the depot. The photos feature images of the actual trains and passengers. Plus, there is an original framed poster showing the train route map, depots along the way, and the railway’s schedule. An antique brass wall clock kept passengers apprised of the time.
Bygone Era
The advent of the automobile, a dam, and forest fires changed the trajectory of the town of Tallulah Falls. The area had already become one of the most popular vacation resorts in the Southeast by the 1870s. With the arrival of the railroad in 1882, visitors from Atlanta to the mountains no longer had to travel the rugged route by horse or horse-drawn buggies and wagons.
“Before the train, people could hardly get to this area,” Mr. Prater said.
During the late 1800s, luxury hotels, inns, and large homes sprang up near Tallulah Falls. Dancing, dining, billiards, tennis, horseback riding, and more were popular activities, and wide porches on all dwellings meant visitors enjoyed mountain breezes while rocking in chairs and lounging in hammocks.
For several decades, the area boomed, prompting thousands to step into and exit out of the Tallulah Falls train depot.
Then, a series of freak fires in 1921 destroyed most of the homes, hotels, inns, and businesses. While no one knows for certain what started the fire, one explanation—ironically—is that a spark from the train pulling in or out of the Tallulah Falls depot may have set the area ablaze, and high winds spread the fire.
Only the Tallulah Falls train depot and three other buildings survived the fires. Only the depot and the Moss House, which was owned by Rufus Moss, one of the men who built and brought the Tallulah Falls Railway to Rabun County, exist today.
