Spectacular Anna Ruby Falls lies in the heart of the Chattahoochee National Forest. The quiet coolness of the area is broken only by the thundering rush of water flowing over the rugged cliff face.
Anna Ruby Falls marks the junction of Curtis and York Creeks. Both creeks begin on Tray Mountain and are fed by underground springs, rain, and snow. From the falls, Smith Creek tumbles downhill to Unicoi Lake and then to the Chattahoochee River. Its journey continues south, eventually joining the Appalachicola River in Florida and ending its 550 mile journey in the Gulf of Mexico.
Anna Ruby Falls Scenic Area hosts a variety of plant and animal species common to the Appalachian Mountains. Colorful flowers and shrubs, like mountain laurel and rhododendron, are abundant. Straight, sturdy poplar and majestic white pine are common. You will find oaks on the slopes, and the drooping branches of hemlock shade the cool water of the mountain streams.
Wildflowers bloom primarily in the early spring and include the birdsfoot violet, nodding and sessile trilliums, and foamflower. Ferns and mosses are abundant. Bear, deer, squirrel, and turkey also make their home here.
The clean, clear water found in the streams support several species of fish. From the viewing deck of the visitor center, you can look down into Smith Creek and feed rainbow, brown and brook trout. Unlike the rainbow and brown, the brook trout is Georgia’s only native trout.
Culural History
Once Cherokee Indian territory, many of the local rivers, valleys and mountains bear names that reflect Indians’ appreciation of nature. Chattahoochee means place of marked or flowered rocks. Tray Mountain, on which Anna Ruby Falls is located, was once named Trail Mountain. The Cherokee built many trails up the mountain to watch for enemy campfires.
After the Civil War, the land surrounding and including Anna Ruby Falls was purchased by Colonel John H. “Captain” Nichols. Colonel Nichols adored his only daughter, Anna Ruby, as she was all he had left after the death of his two infant sons and his wife. He named the twin waterfalls “Anna Ruby” in her honor.
Around the turn of the century, Byrd-Matthews Lumber Company purchased and logged the land surrounding Anna Ruby Falls. Mules pulled the felled trees along tarred log slides to the top of the falls. There the logs were loaded onto a flume that looped around the face of the falls and ended on the opposite side of Smith Creek. A narrow-gauge railroad transported the logs from the falls to a mill in Helen.
Caring for the land…
...and Serving People
In 1925, the U.S. Government purchased the area known today as the 1,600-acre Anna Ruby Falls Scenic Area to become part of the Chattahoochee National Forest. Protected as part of the National Forest system, the area gradually regained its natural beauty.
The USDA Forest Service provides leadership in the management, protection, and use of the Nation’s forests and range lands. We operate under the idea of caring for our enewable resources, such as water, forage, wildlife, wood, and recreation.
The Forest Service is committed to the preservation of the wilderness, the diversity of plants and animals, and landscape beauty, as well as to the protection of the basic resources of soil, water, and air quality in its management of these lands.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in its programs on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs and marital or familial status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print audiotape, etc.) should contact the USDA Office of Communications at (202) 720-5881 (voice) or (202) 720-7808 (TDD).
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