Linville Falls

Linville Falls is a waterfall located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina in the United States. The falls move in several distinct steps, beginning in a twin set of upper falls, moving down a small gorge, and culminating in a high-volume 45ft drop. It is named for the Linville River, which goes over the falls. Linville Falls has the highest volume of any waterfall on the Northern Edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains.Natural historyLinville Falls marks the beginning of the Linville Gorge, which is formed by the Linville River, which continues on after the falls before finally ending near Lake James.HistoryAccording to personnel at Linville Falls, the falls were used by local Native Americans to execute prisoners. No one is known to have survived a fall over the final plunge, except for kayaker Pat Keller in 2010.The falls were donated to the National Park Service in 1952 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. He provided about $100,000 for purchase of the land, including a 1100acre area surrounding the falls and a part of Linville Gorge, from Giulia Luginbuhl of Des Moines, IA, whose father, F. W. Hossfeld of Morganton, NC, had purchased the property about 1900.At one time, the upper section of the main plunge was the same height as the lower section, however, flooding caused the upper section to collapse on top of the lower falls, making the lower falls a considerably longer plunge.