Noccalula Falls - Alabama's Romantic Legend of Love

Continuing our St. Valentine's month look at some of the most romantic spots in the South, the focus today is beautiful Noccalula Falls in Gadsden, Alabama.

Just off Interstate 59 between Birmingham and Chattanooga, the magnificent waterfall takes its name from the charming and romantic old Alabama legend of an ill-fated Cherokee princess. Her statue now graces the rim of the ravine created by the rushing water.

As the story goes, Noccalula was the daughter of a powerful Cherokee chief long before the first whites arrived in the area. She was in love with a brave but poor warrior from her own tribe. Her father, however, dreamed of expanding his power and influence by matching his daughter with the chief of a rival tribe.

Noccalula's father expelled her true love from his chiefdom and arranged for his daughter to marry the rival chief. On the day of her wedding, however, the heartbroken Cherokee princess took her own life by leaping from the waterfall. She committed suicide rather than marry a man she did not love.

The chief was so filled with remorse over his selfishness that had led to the death of his daughter that he decreed the waterfall should be named in her memory. It remains so to this day.

To learn more about Noccalula Falls and this fascinating old Alabama legend, please visit www.exploresourthernhistory.com/noccalula.