Connestee Falls is an 85-foot tiered waterfall on Carson Creek in Transylvania County, North Carolina, south of Brevard. A short, accessible boardwalk in a small county park leads to an overlook at the top of the falls, facing Batson Creek Falls across the same ravine.
The falls
The World Waterfall Database, working from lidar data, describes Carson Creek dropping about 85 feet in four steps of horsetail cascades. Batson Creek comes in from the side at the third tier, and the combined streams run down a narrow flume known as Silver Slip. Conserving Carolina, the land trust that protected the site, gives the height as 100 feet and Batson Creek Falls as a 40-foot cascade.
Getting there
Connestee Falls Park is run by Transylvania County Parks and Recreation at 5384 Greenville Highway (US 276), about 6 miles south of downtown Brevard. There is a small parking area; from it, a boardwalk of about 50 yards leads to the overlook. The park is open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and there is no admission charge.
When to go
The park is open all year. No source describes seasonal flow.
On site
The walk is flat, with no stairs, and the boardwalk and overlook platform were built to ADA standards, so wheelchairs and strollers can reach the view. The falls are seen from above only: the land below the overlook is private property, and there is no route down to the base.
History and name
Dr. F. A. Miles, owner of the Caesars Head Hotel, named the falls in 1873 after a Cherokee legend of a maiden who fell from a waterfall; historian Jim Bob Tinsley concluded that the legend did not take place here. Dick Smith bought seven acres including the falls in 1990 and watched 30 to 50 cars a day stop to see them. In 2006 he approached the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy, now Conserving Carolina, which placed a conservation easement on the land and acquired it in 2008. The property went to Transylvania County in 2009, and the park opened in 2011.
Nearby
Batson Creek Falls faces the overlook across the ravine, Silver Slip is the flume where the two creeks join, Middle Batson Creek Falls is about 0.1 mile away on Batson Creek, and Allison Falls is about 1.1 miles away.
Distances are straight-line.