Hightower Falls
American waterfall attraction
Hightower Falls is a waterfall and historic site in Cedartown, Georgia.
History
In 1843, Elias Dorsey Hightower, then 35 years old, built a cotton gin in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains beside an 80-foot (24 m) waterfall. During this time cotton was becoming the mainstay of the south’s economy. Hightower then built a three-storey mill at the site, using it to grind wheat and corn for flour and cornmeal. The surrounding land was used to raise sheep by professional Welsh herders, who occupied the 2nd and 3rd floors of the mill.
Hightower feared for the safety of his mill and his home during the Civil War. Troops camped on the mill grounds by the Falls, but left no damage. Hightower then built a dam at the precipice to raise the waterfall several feet. Once this was done, he added a tannery and sorghum syrup mill, and raised honey bees.
In 1972, Hightower Falls opened to the public.
The public source identifies “Hightower Falls” as american waterfall attraction. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Hightower, Falls and American.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5759720. Authority coordinates are 33.934, -85.144. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1843 and 1972.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hightower Falls” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.