High Falls State Park
October 17, 2010
This state park is between Atlanta and Macon Georgia on Interstate Highway 75.
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We went back the next weekend and it was foggy early in the morning. It looked like smoke on the water. These are the pictures from the second trip.
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This large Super Daddy Long Legs had a shadow that belittled him. See the big file.
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Snails were all over in the water. These were tiny, mostly less than one inch long.
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This just looked like a cool picture to take.
The Grist Mill ruins.
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Purple Beautyberry Callicarpa dichotoma 'Early Amethyst' Berries.
 
There was another Strawberry-bush (Euonymus americanus) and this time there were some unopened seed pods. This picture came out better than expected. Go to the other High Falls link to see the other 2 pictures of the bush.
More of the Old Powerhouse. Even though we didn't go in, there was plenty to see from the fence.
Around 1900, the Towaligia Falls Power Company built a large single dam across the Towaligia Falls. The lake behind the dam is High Falls Lake. In 1905, Georgia Hydro-Electric Company purchased the dam and powerhouse it became a hydroelectric plant. Twenty five years later, ownership was transferred to the Georgia Power Company which later closed the plant. Eventually the power house and surrounding land was donated to the Georgia Fish and Game Commission, which in turn gave it to the State Parks Department.
Another view of the Old Powerhouse.
These two pictures look like dinosaur bones. They are really the supports for the water pipes that I suspect went to the turbines that generated power. I like the idea that they are dinosaur bones though.
 
I think they were serious.
 
This butterfly just landed at my feet and I couldn't resist.
 
We took a wrong turn (or maybe just missed our turn because we were looking at the wildlife and trees) and ended up in the campground. The campground was nice and on the way back to the trail we saw nothing but very calm waters.
We saw fishermen venture out into the river so we did the same and I got some nice pictures of the calm waters from the middle of the river.
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The hike ended back at the Ranger Station by the dam and lake.
There were a couple of dams built in the early 1800s on the Towaliga River at High Falls that were used to provide energy for farmers to grind wheat and corn. Soon after that, High Falls became a prospering industrial town.
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High Falls 10-10-2010 High Falls 10-17-2010 High Falls 10-23-2010
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