Lower Turtletown Falls is a 55-foot waterfall on Turtletown Creek in Polk County, Tennessee, in the Blue Ridge region. It lies about 12.4 miles north of McCaysville and roughly 50.5 miles east of East Chattanooga as the crow flies.
At 55 feet it stands in the tallest quarter of Tennessee’s 332 waterfalls with a recorded height, ranking 71st; the typical Tennessee waterfall is about 30 feet. By form it is a block waterfall, wider than it is tall, spilling over a broad ledge.
The Blue Ridge is the highest part of the southern Appalachians, a range of forested peaks and coves with oak, hickory, tulip poplar and hemlock and spruce-fir on the summits, in one of the wettest climates in the East. Steep mountain streams drop over granite, gneiss and quartzite ledges, giving the region hundreds of waterfalls. Turtletown Creek carries 2 recorded waterfalls, and Lower Turtletown Falls is the tallest of them.
Polk County holds 10 recorded waterfalls, and several are close by. Turtletown Falls, a 25-foot segmented waterfall, is under a mile away. Coker Creek Falls, a 45-foot tiered waterfall, is about 2.3 miles away. Towee Falls, a 35-foot tiered waterfall, is about 6 miles away.
Lower Turtletown Falls is located at 35.1650° N, 84.3631° W. The listing is based on the World Waterfall Database, one of the sources compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey in its inventory of waterfalls and rapids of the conterminous United States. The creek name is confirmed against the federal Geographic Names Information System. The position was verified on aerial imagery. Details on trails, parking and access have not been documented for this waterfall yet.