Issaqueena Falls, Walhalla SC

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10.24- Wednesday-


The road to this location was very relaxing and would be awesome if we were more timely with the foliage.

The couple in this RV were from Lake Placid, FL. Lake Placid is known as the Mural City. They were not full-timers but did spend a good part of the year traveling. I did a blog on Lake Placid about three years ago.
The Legend] of Issaqueena
Many versions of the story of Issaqueena exist. One such tale tells us Issaqueena was a Cherokee girl who fell in love with an Oconee Brave, while another regales the story of a young girl named Issaqueena who was captured by the Cherokee and given the name Cateechee.

“Cateechee” then met and fell in love with a white trader named Allan Francis. Yet another variant has Issaqueena falling in love with a white silversmith named David Francis.

This is a covered bridge that spans the stream leading to the falls. This is a very small narrow stream. How it manages to transform itself to such a beautiful waterfall baffles me. Early on we begin seeing the beginnings of the falls not to mention the beautiful sounds of water falling freely

As you walk through the covered bridge to the other side you come to an observation area looking down to the stream and looking out over the hills.

Regardless of who Issaqueena fell in love with, the numerous adaptations all end roughly the same way.
Issaqueena overhears her tribesmen planning a surprise attack and sets out ahead of the braves to warn her lover — naming the local landmarks of Mile Creek, Six Mile, Twelve Mile, Eighteen Mile, Three and Twenty, Six and Twenty, and finally Ninety Six along the way. The towns of Six Mile, Ninety Six and the creeks still exist.

She then marries Allan/David/Oconee brave and starts a family. The family then builds (depending on the story) either a “stumphouse” home or a home on Stumphouse Mountain, just north of what is now Walhalla. Her tribesmen, still seeking revenge for their spoiled attack plan, finally track down Issaqueena and chase her through the woods. She eludes her pursuers by leaping off a nearby waterfall.

The tribesmen, believing her to be dead, call off their chase and Issaqueena, who had actually landed on a ledge and hid out of sight behind the great wall of water, was able to return safely to her family and live happily ever after.

The rendition with the Oconee brave has them both throwing themselves over the falls rather then die at the hands of the Cherokee while the narrative with David Francis has the happy couple ending up in Alabama.
The Legend of Issaqueena is a prime example of local lore shaping an area but historians frequently disagree about how much (if any) truth is surrounding the story.

The trail to the falls is steep at times but not dangerous to most visitors. I, on the other hand have recently become a klutz at walking, and am slightly more cautious than most.

The downhill path Harkins the thoughts of having to walk this same path, next time, going all the way uphill.

For one, according to local author and Cherokee language historian John Currahee, the name “Issaqueena” is actually the transplanted Choctaw word “isi-okhina” meaning “deer creek.”

“(The legend) may have some vague factual basis but the Indian maiden’s name was not given until 1895 when she was called ‘Cateechee’ in an essay,” stated Currahee. “It was not until 1898 that Cateechee became Issaqueena in a poem, the duality explained by saying that Issaqueena was a Choctaw captured by the Cherokee and given the name Cateechee among the Cherokee.

“Both the poet and the essayist owned up to inventing the two names out of thin air, although the poet seemed to know that Issaqueena did come from the Choctaw language,” Currahee said.
The poem Currahee was referring to is the epic “Cateechee of Keowee” penned by J.W. Daniels in 1898.
No matter which — if any — version of the legend a person chooses to believe, the 100-foot waterfall itself is truly a fantastic sight for all and should not be missed.
Story credit – Easley Progress online

What it looks like from the top of the falls

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