South Fork Painter Creek Falls is a waterfall on South Fork Painter Creek in Unicoi County, Tennessee, in the Blue Ridge region, with a total height of about 15 feet. It lies about 9.5 miles west of Banner Hill and roughly 19.8 miles southwest of Johnson City as the crow flies.
At 15 feet it is on the modest side for Tennessee, where the typical waterfall with a recorded height stands around 30 feet; it ranks 240th of 332. The water comes down as a cascade, descending over a series of rock steps rather than in a single drop.
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.
There are 20 recorded waterfalls in Unicoi County. Painter Creek Falls, a 200-foot cascade waterfall, is under a mile away. Buckeye Falls, a 475-foot cascade waterfall, is about 1.2 miles away. Delsatch Falls, an 85-foot horsetail waterfall, is about 1.8 miles away.
South Fork Painter Creek Falls is located at 36.0999° N, 82.5902° 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 exact position has not yet been verified on aerial imagery, so treat the map pin as approximate. Details on trails, parking and access have not been documented for this waterfall yet.