Turner Falls

This article is about the waterfall and park in Oklahoma. For a village in Massachusetts with a similar name, see Turners Falls, Massachusetts.
Turner Falls
Turner Falls
Map
LocationTurner Falls Park, Interstate 35, Davis, Oklahoma, United States
TypeFan
Total height77 feet
Swimming at Turner Falls

Turner Falls is a waterfall on Honey Creek in the Arbuckle Mountains of south-central Oklahoma, United States, 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Davis.[1][2] With a height of 77 feet (23 m), Turner Falls is locally considered Oklahoma's tallest waterfall,[3] although its height matches one in Natural Falls State Park.[4]

Turner Falls and the blue hole are dangerous and have claimed people's lives every year.[citation needed] Only experienced swimmers should swim there.[1]

History

Mazeppa Thomas Turner, a Scottish immigrant farmer who married Laura Johnson, a Chickasaw woman, settled in the area in 1878 and discovered the falls. The falls were named for him.[2][5]

Recreational use began in or before 1868. At the time, Turner Falls was located in Pickens County, Chickasaw Nation.[6]

Today, the falls are part of Turner Falls Park, a city park operated by the city of Davis, Oklahoma.[5] The Falls cascade into a natural swimming pool, one of two such pools within the park,[3] and these are popular tourist destinations in the summer.[7]

The city of Davis acquired the park in 1919 and operated it until 1950. It then leased the facility to other interests until 1978, when it resumed control.[2]

The park covers 1,500 acres (6.1 km2), and also contains nature trails, caves and other interesting geological features. It also has a walk-in castle,[3] originally built in the 1930s as a summer home for Dr. Ellsworth Collings, a professor and later Dean of the School of Education at the University of Oklahoma.

References

  1. ^ Turner Falls Park, retrieved January 30, 2009
  2. ^ a b c Sanchez, Joe. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. "Turner Falls." Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c Turner Falls Park, Davis, Oklahoma, Chamber of Commerce
  4. ^ "Oklahoma Waterfall Study underway". Oklahoma's Own. News on 6 Now. March 9, 2010. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved April 26, 2012. ...several waterfalls could surpass Natural Falls and Turner Falls as Oklahoma's tallest.
  5. ^ a b History on official website, retrieved January 30, 2009
  6. ^ Charles Goins, Historical Atlas of Oklahoma (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006), plate 105.
  7. ^ Turner Falls Location and Park Info, Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department
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34°25′31″N 97°08′55″W / 34.42528°N 97.14861°W / 34.42528; -97.14861