On the evening of Sunday, August 13, 1916, the earthen dam at Lake Toxaway gave way. Over five billion gallons of water poured down the Toxaway River and into South Carolina. The lake came back in 1961. The water that left in 1916 never came back. What it carried with it is still on the ground today, inside Gorges State Park and on the floor of Lake Jocassee. State geologists have mapped it. This month, a park ranger will lead a hike about it.
Fifteen Minutes on a Sunday Evening
The Transylvania County Library's history of that summer shows how much had built up before the dam failed.
- Mid-July 1916. A hurricane brought rain and landslides across Transylvania County. The North Carolina Geological Survey calls the July 15 and 16 flood the flood of record in western North Carolina.
- Early August. A third hurricane brought more heavy rain.
- August 13, about 7:00 p.m. More than three-quarters of the dam broke loose. It was 600 feet long and 62 feet high.
- About fifteen minutes later. Most of the 550-acre lake was gone.
The rain gets most of the attention, but the library's account names a different cause. People at the time believed the failure started with an unrepaired leak in the lower part of the dam. That was a belief, not a finding. A century later, nobody has proven it.
Sources also disagree on the date. The library and the Geological Survey both give August 13. NCpedia's history of Gorges State Park says August 14. The lake's size varies too. The library gives 550 acres in one article and 540 in another.
What the Water Left Behind
The water drained away within hours. The rock and sediment it carried stayed. Geologists in the Survey's Asheville office mapped those deposits along the Toxaway River and used the work in landslide talks across the region. Their slides are archived on the Transylvania County NCGenWeb site, which draws on Geology of Gorges State Park, N.C. Geological Survey Information Circular 31.
What they found:
- Distance. The failure set off a debris flow that ran more than seven miles down the Toxaway River and into South Carolina.
- Speed. Just below the dam, the outflow is estimated at about 293,938 cubic feet per second, moving at about 50 miles per hour.
- One boulder. The flood moved a 60-foot boulder weighing nearly 900 tons. It was photographed about half a mile downstream from Toxaway Falls.
- Under Lake Jocassee. Cobble, gravel and sand from the flood lie beneath Lake Jocassee.
- A slope that kept moving. A weathered-rock slide of about four acres along the Toxaway River in Gorges State Park was probably set off by the flood, which cut into the riverbank and steepened the slope. Tree rings show the slide moving again between 1965 and 1974, a period of above-average rainfall. Trees on the slide have curved trunks. They tilted as the ground shifted, then grew back toward vertical.
- The dam site. The original dam stood in about the same place as the current one.
That last point ties the lake to the park. The water behind today's dam sits where the 1916 water sat, and the drop below it is the same drop. Toxaway Falls is the most familiar view of it. The state describes the falls as visible from the bridge and walkway on U.S. 64. The 900-ton boulder was photographed about half a mile downstream of that walkway.
The Ranger Hike on October 30
Gorges State Park has a ranger-led Haunted History Hike on Friday, October 30, 2026, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. The park's event listing describes it like this:
What happened when the Toxaway Dam broke? What's underneath Lake Jocassee? Are there really people buried in the park? Join a Ranger on a hike through history- learn about local legends, ghost stories, and the people who lived on the land before Gorges was Gorges!
The group meets at the Rainbow Falls Trailhead. The park describes the hike as moderate and about 60 minutes long. Candy will be handed out, and costumes are encouraged. The listing is open to the general public and doesn't mention registration. The event page has an "I'm Interested" button that adds the hike to your calendar.
The ranger's question about Lake Jocassee has a specific answer in the geology above. The flood's gravel and sand lie under that lake. A 7:00 p.m. start in late October also lands close to the hour the dam failed on that August evening.
The Forty-Five Years Between Ruin and Rebuild
The Toxaway Inn stayed standing after the flood, but its guests left and the building stood empty. The library's history says investors bought the Inn in 1926 and that it was dismantled and razed in 1947. The lake was restored in 1961. The library credits Reginald Heinitsh with reviving the area, including buying 8,900 acres in the early 1960s.
That gap became a film this year. Rise, Ruin, and Restoration: A History of Lake Toxaway was directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Dan Johnson and produced by John LeRoy Nichols III. Heinitsh was Nichols's grandfather. The documentary covers the creation of the lake, the 1916 collapse and the rebuilding decades later. It also tells the story of Lucy Armstrong Moltz and her Toxaway mansion.
The film screened for free on the Cashiers Village Green on July 30 with the Cashiers Historical Society. It played again on September 16 at the Highlands Performing Arts Center, with a Q&A with the director. We couldn't find any later screening or a streaming option. Short clips, including "The Home That Lucy Built" and "The Plan to Rebuild Toxaway," are posted on the i3 Films site.
The Rest of October at Grassy Ridge
The Haunted History Hike is the last program on the park's October calendar. The others are shorter ranger programs, mostly at or near the Grassy Ridge Access and Visitor Center. Listings show them open to all ages unless noted.
- Native Plant Gardens Volunteer Day. Tuesday, October 6, and Tuesday, November 3, 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the Visitor Center. Sign up through SignupGenius, and bring gloves, water, a hat and clothes for the weather.
- All About Arachnids. Wednesday, October 7, 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. at the White Pines Picnic Shelter. A moderate hike on the Picnic Connector to look for the park's spiders, with an iNaturalist challenge.
- Our Native Bamboo: Rivercane. Monday, October 12, 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. in the Visitor Center Auditorium. A talk on rivercane's role in the ecosystem, its importance to Indigenous ways of life and efforts to restore it.
- Black Bear Basics. Tuesday, October 13, 10:00 to 10:30 a.m. at the White Pines Picnic Shelter. Bear-safety tips, with skins and skulls you can handle.
- 10 Hiking Essentials. Wednesday, October 21, 10:00 to 10:30 a.m. at the White Pines Picnic Shelter. What to pack and how to prepare before a hike.
- Fall Colors Hike. Sunday, October 25, 10:00 to 10:30 a.m., starting from the White Pines Picnic Shelter. A moderate ranger hike on fall color, seasonal change and why leaves turn.
The 10 Hiking Essentials program on the 21st fits well before the night hike on the 30th. The Haunted History Hike starts at 7:00 p.m. in late October, and the park asks hikers to come prepared for a moderate hour on the trail.
Before You Head to the Trailhead
The Rainbow Falls Trail runs 1.5 miles each way, a 3-mile round trip, and the Forest Service rates it strenuous. The trailhead and first three-quarters of a mile are on Gorges State Park land, graveled and well blazed. Past that point the trail enters U.S. Forest Service land and the Wild and Scenic River corridor, and the surface turns to dirt. The Forest Service suggests stopping at the Gorges Visitor Center for maps and trail updates. The center is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day except Christmas.
That stop is worth making this fall. The Grassy Ridge Access and the trails to Rainbow Falls and Upper Bearwallow Falls reopened on November 1, 2024, after Hurricane Helene. As of October 3, 2026, the park's homepage lists hiking trails and bike and bridle trails as open. It doesn't give status for individual trails, so the Visitor Center has the latest details. Check the park's event calendar the week of a program in case anything changes.
We grew up with the story of the 1916 flood, and we love finding new places where it still shows. If you want to talk about the history behind your stretch of the Toxaway, or about anything else on the mountain, Donna Hodges and the Mountain Real Estate Rocks team would be glad to hear from you. We might even see you at the Rainbow Falls Trailhead on the 30th.
