Toccoa/Ocoee River

Not to be confused with Oconee River or Toccoa Creek.
Toccoa/Ocoee River
The whitewater rapids of the Upper Ocoee during the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationConfluence of Canada and Mauldin Creeks in Union County, Georgia
 • elevation~ 2,120 ft (650 m)[1]
Mouth 
 • location
Hiwassee River in Polk County, Tennessee
 • elevation
~ 750 ft (230 m)[2]
The Hiwassee drainage basin, which includes the Ocoee River, located within the upper Tennessee drainage basin

The Toccoa River and Ocoee River are the names in use for a single 93-mile-long (150 km)[3][better source needed] river that flows northwestward through the southern Appalachian Mountains of the southeastern United States. It is a tributary of the Hiwassee River, which it joins in Polk County, Tennessee, near the town of Benton. Three power generating dams are operated along it.

The river is called the Toccoa for its 56 miles (90 km) through Georgia,[3] until it reaches the twin cities of McCaysville, Georgia and Copperhill, Tennessee, at the truss bridge which connects Georgia 5 (Blue Ridge Street) with Tennessee 68 and Georgia 60 (Ocoee Street and Toccoa Street). The remainder is called the Ocoee through Tennessee. The Ocoee is known for its Class III-V whitewater rapids, appealing to kayakers and rafting enthusiasts. It is also home to the local salamander, Desmognathus ocoee. The upper section of the Ocoee was host to whitewater slalom events during the Centennial 1996 Summer Olympics held primarily in Atlanta, about 100 miles (160 km) to the south.

The name Ocoee originates from the Cherokee name for Passiflora incarnata, ocoee.[4] Toccoa comes from a Cherokee word meaning "Catawba place"[5][6]: 410–411  or "beautiful".[7]

On February 16, 1990 flooding of the river submerged much of the central business district of the riverfront towns of Copperhill, Tennessee and McCaysville, Georgia.[8] The area was once heavily mined for copper ore from the Copper Basin and polluted by smelting operations. Extensive logging and plant-destroying smog depleted topsoil and released polluted acid and metals into the area's streams.[9][failed verification] The area has since been cleaned and greened.[10] Olympic kayaker Joe Jacobi led a successful effort to bring the Atlanta Olympic white-water event to the Ocoee River in 1996, and his wife Lisa, a former CNN news producer, left her job to open a downtown bed-and-breakfast and become a local internet entrepreneur.[10]

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. Suches quadrangle, Georgia. 1:24,000. 7.5 Minute Series. Washington D.C.: USGS, 1988.
  2. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. Benton quadrangle, Tennessee. 1:24,000. 7.5 Minute Series. Washington D.C.: USGS, 1974.
  3. ^ a b "The National Map". U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved Feb 16, 2011.
  4. ^ "State Symbols". Tennessee State Government. Archived from the original on June 25, 2014. Retrieved Dec 21, 2014.
  5. ^ "Profile for Toccoa, Georgia, GA". ePodunk. MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. 2007. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019.
  6. ^ Speck, Frank G. (1939). "The Catawba Nation and its Neighbors". The North Carolina Historical Review. 16 (4): 404–417. JSTOR 23516556.
  7. ^ Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, Ga.: Winship Press. p. 221. ISBN 0-915430-00-2. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  8. ^ "Two Towns Divided Between Two States: Copperhill, TN and McCaysville, Georgia". Archived from the original on 2008-02-23.
  9. ^ NEERGAARD, LAURAN (1 March 1990). "Flood May Be Last Straw for Troubled Copper Town". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019.
  10. ^ a b Up From the Mines in Tennessee Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times By CHRIS DIXON December 14, 2007