Immediately following the fire that destroyed Haddock Inn on March 7, 1913, Mrs. Forrest wrote the following to the children who wrote to her faithfully and also read her column in Southern Greetings, a newspaper published by the Forrests at Toccoa Falls College.

Toccoa, Ga., March 15, 1913

My Dear Children,

Since our last letter we have passed through the flames. Our beautiful Toccoa Falls Institute building was completely destroyed by fire on Friday morning, March 7, and with it all our furniture, dishes, silver, books, and papers, including my collection of children’s books and letters, and the February issue of Southern Greetings.

Therefore, we will have an enlarged edition this month, and your Bible lesson, a litter longer than usual.  I know those of you who have been at Toccoa, and those who were looking forward to coming this summer, will feel very sad about our building burning. But let us look up and remember God’s promise to His people many years ago to give “beauty for ashes,” and trust Him for the new building He will give.

You will read on the editorial page how we are hoping to build in the near future. And I am sure the children are anxious to do all they can to help us with the new buildings. Write me about it and I will tell you how you can help.

Lovingly, the Children’s Friend,

Mrs. R. A. Forrest

After she wrote this column, children from across the country wrote to her wanting to help rebuild the school that she and her husband, Richard, had established. They also sent money—a few coins and a few dollar bills—but over time it was enough to build Sunshine Cottage, the first of three cottages that were constructed to house students. More importantly, these donations were just one more indication that the work should continue and it did. With child-like faith to sustain it, Toccoa Falls emerged from the ashes of disappointment and defeat.

Baldermo Rodriguez

September 3, 1944

Dear Mr. [Kelly] Barnes,
Please forgive me for not writing any sooner, but I have been on the move for nearly four months now. I have made another combat jump and came out alright—“Thank God.” It is the third combat mission in which I have taken part. Everyone has been very tough and in everyone, we have had a little fun with the [Japanese]. [I‘ll] be glad when this is all over because I have done some walking in my three years in the Parachute Infantry, and I have seen all the bullets flying over my head that I wanted to see. I am ready to take a rest out of the tropics and far away from the [Japanese].

I am sending a few pieces of Japanese money which they were going to use in their conquer of the world. Well, piece-by-piece, we are taking it all back. Some of the money is real [Japanese] money. [The] other pieces are nothing but invasion money.

Well, I have to close for today, but I will write again soon.

Sincerely,
Rodriguez

P.S. Give my regards to everybody at T. F. I.

10 Yen

Other side of 10 Yen

Japanese Money

Japanese Money

Letter to TFI

Letter to TFI

Practically every person who came as a student claimed to be a Christian, but in many cases, this only meant he or she was a church member. Each year scores of students came to know Christ in a real and vital way, and many were called into definite, full-time service. One high school boy from Jacksonville, Florida, gave the following testimony: “I came to this school unsaved, but am now saved and rejoicing in the Lord. At Toccoa Falls Institute, I was taught to believe on the Lord. So, I can truthfully say that if it were not for this school I would still be in sin and unsaved.” A girl from Illinois testified: “TFI is my ‘spiritual home’ for it was there in 1941, I found Christ and His salvation so full and free.” Similar statements were made by dozens of young people before the end of each school term.

The Bible College students traveled approximately three thousand miles a month in order to reach about 2,500 children a week in services at schools, as well as an uncounted number of adults in street meetings, jail services, church services, visitation work, and other types of contacts. On one Sunday morning, every pulpit in Stephens County was supplied by one of the faculty or student body of Toccoa Falls.

During the summer months, the students helped with vacation Bible schools, toured in quartet work with staff representatives from the school, acted as assistant pastors, worked as counselors in Christian camps, and did many other types of Christian work. Their testimonies were thrilling to read or hear, as can be told from the few included below:

“We praise the Lord for the 79 boys and girls who accepted Christ as their personal Savior in our Bible schools in Alabama this summer. Boys and girls want to know the way of salvation. May the Lord help us who know Him to show them the way!”

“The past three months of presenting Christ to hungry hearts from an old gospel tent have brought untold blessing to our hearts as we have witnessed the working of God’s wonderful grace in the lives of men!”

“During the summer, I served as assistant pastor at a Methodist Church in Savannah, Georgia. Most of the month of August, I was given complete charge. It was wonderful to be able to tell so many of the soul-saving power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to put into practice that which God helped me to learn at Toccoa Falls Institute.”

“We covered something like 3,500 miles, participating in 55 services in 52 days. We started with $10.00, a tank of gas, and a prayer meeting, not once asking anyone for money, food, or shelter, but making our needs known only to God. Not once did we stop for lack of funds, although several times we anxiously eyed the little treasury as it dwindled to a couple of dollars, and the contents of the gas tank as it sank to an alarming level, but God always slipped into the picture at the crucial moment to replenish our store.”

Editor’s note: Shown in the photo above is the Toccoa Falls Institute Gospel Car.

One of these is known as Garnet spring, and is beautifully situated about a mile from town. Its water is not very unpleasant to the taste, but has a decidedly mineral flavor.

About a half-mile further, near the home of Mr. Littleton Edge, are two mineral springs whose waters leave a decidedly disagreeable “farewell” in the mouth. One of these is strongly impregnated with iron, and the other tastes like sulpher. The water from one of these springs is used by some of our citizens, who find it quite beneficial for indigestion.

So far as we can ascertain, none of this water has ever been analyzed. Perhaps it would be a good plan to get some competent chemist to make an analysis of the waters of these springs, for their medicinal properties might be found valuable in the treatment of certain diseases.

It is thought to have been in the midst of a large Indian camp many years ago, when the many Indians were roaming, long before there was any Toccoa.
It has quenched many a traveler’s thirst, as it is near by the roadside. There have been many picnics at this ancient spring.

It is about three feet deep, ten feet high and eight feet wide.

—A Small Boy. The Toccoa Times

A young lady who lived on a farm near by went home very hot one afternoon. She went to the spring to bathe herself, but the water was so cold and she was so hot, that she was chilled, and did not live till night.

Just above the spring a little boy was drowned. He and his elder brother were coming from Clarkesville to Toccoa, where they lived. It had been raining, and the creek was high. When they were about the middle of the stream the horse stopped to drink; but while he was drinking there came a waterspout, so sudden that it washed them off their horse. The one who was the oldest could swim, but the younger could not, and was drowned. He was floated down stream for several yards, where he was found after three days’ search.

Above the falls a man was found murdered, and after a three days’ search one of his horses was found the other one was supposed to have been ridden off by the murderer.

—S.S. The Toccoa Times

Recently, several members of the Toccoa Falls College Historical Society met at the spot where Indian Springs was suppose to be located. Ruth Damron, who had played in what was left of the springs when she was a little girl, pointed out where it was located. After digging down about three feet, water began to bubble up—Indian Springs had been located, and its waters began to run free again for the first time in many years.

(Left to right) Betty Rhinehart’s brother, Evelyn Forrest, Richard Forrest (stooping in the opening to Indian Springs), Laura Drennen Roseberry (Betty Rhinehart’s mother, who also was Evelyn Forrest’s sister), Betty Roseberry Rhinehart (the young girl), and Olive Drennen, Evelyn’s mother.

Ruth Damron pinpoints the location of the spring to Angie Ramage and Kelly Vickers.

Water bubbles up from the spring.

This photo helps us gain the right perspective of the area around the spring. Also, we can see how the springs may have been located a little to the right or how the bank behind the spring has possibly eroded away.

Read articles found by the Toccoa Falls College Historical Society about Indian Springs

In the early 1900′s, Mrs. Forrest could not envision how the horse and buggy would be replaced by the automobile. However, she soon became “accustomed” to the idea once she began accepting speaking engagements in cities such as Atlanta, Georgia; Greenville and Anderson, South Carolina; and Asheville, North Carolina. See the devotional that was posted on this site on April 2, 2007.

America’s Greatest Lay Preacher Fills and Thrill the First Baptist Church.

Sunday, April 8, 1917, was a blustering and cloudy day in Toccoa. In fact it was the kind of day on which a Frenchman commits suicide. But in the afternoon when train No. 38 arrived from Atlanta, a passenger said to the cab driver, “To the Falls.”

William Jennings Bryan, “The Great Commoner,” had come unannounced to Toccoa to pay a promised visit to Rev. Richard Forrest of Toccoa Falls Institute. Rev. Forrest was absent by Rev. Overman, Principal of Toccoa Falls Institute, welcomed the distinguished visitor. Rev. Overman rose to the occasion.

He knew that Toccoa is proud of Toccoa Falls and that The Falls is proud of that fact. He resolved to give all of Toccoa the opportunity to hear Mr. Bryan. All local pastors were notified, and the First Baptist was accepted for the noted layman.

Then every Toccoan became a walking telephone and the news was soon circulated. The enthusiasm of the occasion has been equaled only by that described by the celebrated poem, “When Bryan Came to Butte.”

Long before 8:00 p.m. the church seats were filled, and the chairs were brought from other rooms. Rev. O’Kelly, of the First Baptist Church, looking over the large congregation, remarked, “You can easily get a big church attendance when you’ve got a Big Man.”

The Invocation, by Rev. John Ellis, of the First Methodist Church, was a comprehensive reflection of the matters now uppermost in the public mind.

Now, “Nothing extenuate nor ought set down in malice,” but when Mr. Bryan arose the audience cheered to a man—also to a woman.

The subject was, “False Gods.” Those named as the most dangerous were the following nine: (1) Gold, (2) Social Prominence, (3) Fame, (4) Ease, (5) Intellect, (6) Wanderlust, (7) Gambling, (8) Passion, (9) Drink).

From the worship of the first three society may reap some incidental good, through activities involved in worship; but these worshipers may reap in a far larger measure by conforming their worship to the first commandment in the Decalogue. Gambling unfits the mind for the orderly process of a correct life, and holds out the false hope of “Something for Nothing.” Drink rots both body and mind, and submerges the drinker in a hopeless mire.”

The word “Conversion” has proved a stumbling block in the path of many who honestly seek fitness for Christian Membership. Mr. Bryan defines “Conversion” as “Surrender” followed by “Obedience” to the Commandments.

Though long engaged in “big politics,” Mr. Bryan’s lay sermon shows that he has not been “absorbed” by that line of study, but has familiarized himself with the teachings of HOLY WRIT and has seen their applicability to everyday life.

After the service Mr. Bryan returned to Toccoa Falls. Monday morning he addressed the students at the Institute.

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“On December 7, 1917, the Honorable Williams Jennings Bryan penned the following note to Rev. Forrest:

I commend most cordially the Toccoa Falls Institute. The Bible has a growing place in our educational system. I was much impressed by the spirit of your Institute and the personnel of its teachers, and the work in which it is engaged.”

(Text from Achieving the Impossible with God.)

Click here to read more about Williams Jennings Bryan

Troy Damron graduated magna cum laude from both Toccoa Falls Institute with a B.A. degree, and from Piedmont College, Demorest, Georgia, with a B.S. degree. He enjoyed a lifelong identification with the Christian and Missionary Alliance and was an ordained minister in that organization.

The following are poems written by Troy Damron.

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TOCCOA FALLS

In pensive mood I walk the narrow trail
Beside the rippling stream within a peaceful vale,
And join in spirit, friends half a world away
Who in this dale embraced God’s better way.

I follow on this trail beside the rushing stream,
And see in limpid pools the finny bream
Glide to and fro within the safety of his bower,
And thank the God who kept me to this hour.

Arrested are the musings of my mind
As I behold this work of God sublime—
A waterfall cascading down on rock and sand,
A scene as yet unspoiled by human hand.

My thoughts race back a thousand years and more
When noble redmen view at first in days of yore
This scene so grand, and hasten to exclaim,
“Toccoa, Toccoa, how worthy art thou of thy name.”

—Troy Damron

Toccoa in the Cherokee language means beautiful.

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THE SPIRIT OF TOCCOA FALLS

An unseen spirit binds my heart
To those who in the past were part
Of one intrinsic whole—
Those who walked along this way
And worked to bring a brighter day,
To give Toccoa Falls a soul.

I sought from whence this spirit came,
That I might designate its name
And comprehend its power.
I found it not in human plan,
Nor even in the work of man
Continued to this hour.

At last upon a common ground
A truth in every age I found
That set these souls apart.
In testings strong and trials great
God never left them to their fate,
But drew them to His heart.

They suffered much, but bore this cross
As one, and shared their mutual loss
Till God in victory came.
They shared their triumph over pain
And, counting every loss a gain,
Gave glory to His name.

You ask me whence this spirit came—
My answer always is the same.
‘Tis God His children calls
To serve Him as they go or wait,
And in such service generate
The spirit of Toccoa Falls.

—Troy Damron
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WE REMEMBER

The abrupt crescendo of a thundering roar
Demolished the quiet of the early hour;
As tons of water, debris, and more
Surged o’er the Falls with awesome power.

Torrents of rain for days on end
Deluged the dam at Barnes Lake;
Till all at once the earth did rend
Cascading floods with deadly wake.

The higher call God gave that day
To children of His both young and old
Foreshadows His plan—a better way
For those in His sheltering fold.

The pain and horror of that awful night
Still lingers in hearts that care;
But faith in God’s eternal right
Overcomes the grief they share.

The healing years have slowly passed,
But with each year in November
We pledge anew while time shall last
We ever shall remember.

—Troy Damron

(Toccoa Falls flood, Nov. 6, 1977)
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BEAUTY FOR ASHES

“Beauty for Ashes” is promised to thee
Spoke the prophet of old to a people not free.
“The oil of joy” for hearts that mourn;
“The garment of praise” for a nation reborn.

Beside the ashes of a smouldering heap
Bent the form of a man—his face lined with grief.
He pondered this loss to a work just begun,
And thought of the battles which yet must be won.

Into his grief-crushed heart shines a brief ray of light;
For a voice speaks to him, like a voice from the night:
“Beauty for Ashes, my child, you shall see
From out of this ruin a God-planted tree.”

From the ashes and dust of old Haddock Inn,
Like the Phoenix of old—a marvel to men,
A tree grows again—reborn from above,
A school with a mission impelled by God’s love.

Toccoa Falls! May your joy ever be
To witness to men at home and o’er sea
Of God’s great love and redemption so free,
Expressed in the fruit of this God-planted tree.

—Troy Damron

(Isaiah 61:3, where this phrase occurs, was brought to the mind of Dr. R. A. Forrest as he viewed the smoldering embers of Old Haddock Inn—the original Toccoa Falls Institute building which burned in 1913. Poem written Nov. 10, 1971.)

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Editor’s note: One of the last things Troy Damron did before his death was to record some of the facts and trivia he knew about Toccoa Falls.

Toccoa Falls Trivia
By Troy Damron

There is a California Coastal Redwood growing on the Toccoa Falls Campus. It is located in the area between the chapel and Forrest Hall and to the right of the walk as you face the men’s dorm.

There is a spot in the creek between the falls and Gate Cottage where the creek appears to flow upstream.

A pine tree is growing out of the bluff to the left of Toccoa Falls. As you face the falls, it appears to be growing upside down. (This is best viewed in the winter after the leaves have fallen off the trees.)

The old 5½” water main that runs from the main tank to the campus is made of boiler flues from the old steam engines that once ran on the Southern Railway.

The bell in the center of campus between LeTourneau Hall and the Williams Chapel building came from the original Presbyterian church building in Toccoa after it burned.

The old athletic field located beside Grace Chapel was once a peach orchard.

The porch on the north side of the Williams Chapel building was once called boys porch and the one on the south side was called girls porch. In the early days of the school, men and women did not enter through the same door. Thus, the boys entered the building from the north and the girls entered from the south.

The Haddock Inn property at Toccoa Falls, which was recently purchased especially for Bible school purposes by The Christian and Missionary Alliance, will be opened for this purpose on October 10th, 1911, with a sufficient and efficient corps of instructors in the several departments. The Haddock Inn has closed for the season, but will reopen at the usual time next summer.

The charter name of the school is “The Toccoa Falls Institute,” and is but a continuation of a school for Bible training conducted by the Alliance at Golden Valley, N.C., for several years past; the school there having grown very fast, it was not deemed wise to spend money to enlarge buildings, as it was too far from railroad facilities, so that a removal of the school seemed necessary.

Rev. D. Y. Schultz of Ft. Wayne Bible Training School, Indiana, has been engaged to take the place of Principal and will bring to the Institute the rich experience of former years of Bible schoolwork. Besides the Bible teaching, a full course of instruction in English branches will be given in the several grades. An industrial feature will also be one of the adjuncts of the school, the students doing certain hours of work each week in addition to a tuition fee of ten dollars per month. The school year will cover seven months, and an opportunity will be given a limited number of students to earn money during the summer months in helping with the work at Haddock Inn, which will be open as usual every summer. This arrangement will enable quite a number of students help to pay their tuition the following school year.

The sanitary conditions are most excellent. The water furnished the buildings is drawn from springs up on the hillside, and flows by gravity into the Institute. Every modern convenience is supplied. Porcelain lined bathtubs, etc., the drainage is complete and surroundings are perfectly healthy. In fact it is a most ideal place for a school, being two miles from Toccoa, Georgia, it is neither too far away nor yet, too near. It is expected to produce a great deal of food from the land connected with the Institute for the use of the school, as well as the poultry and eggs consumed, and the milk is supplied from the dairy on the place. A steam heating plant is contracted for, to be put in, in time for use the coming winter. The rooms are large and airy—easily ventilated, having two windows to each room and in some cases three.

The location is a charming one. Haddock Inn has been a health resort for ten years or more. It is situated beautifully in the valley of Toccoa Creek, and in close proximity to the Toccoa Falls, which rises 186 feet in height or 26 feet higher than Niagara Falls; this is one of nature’s marvels, shady dells here and there with all the wilderness of primitive nature itself, about in this neighborhood.

The Prospectus for the coming school year is now ready and will be sent on application being made to the Principal.

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Editor’s note: The following is from the inside pages of the brochure.

Toccoa Falls Institute was incorporated June 10, 1911, under the laws of Georgia, for providing a practical Bible training for Christian young men and women of small means, fitting them for effective Christian service at home and abroad. It also covers thoroughly the common and high school branches in its English Department, where needed.

It is Located two miles from Toccoa, GA.. 93 miles northeast of Atlanta, on the main line of the Southern Railway, nestling in the foothills of the famous Blue Ridge Mountains. It is in the midst of picturesque hills, abounding in springs and brooks, ravines and woodland, at an altitude of over 1200 feet above sea-level, and is proverbially beautiful. Its name is derived from the beautiful twin bridal-veil falls on the edge of the campus, Toccoa being a Cherokee Indian word meaning “the beautiful.” Toccoa Falls are 186 feet high, 26 feet higher than Niagara.

The Fact that the open doors for efficient Christian workers far exceed the supply of men and women fitted for this work means that those who pray the Lord to send forth laborers into His harvest should help supply the equipment. In addition to students from more than a dozen states, this year finds one from England and two from Cuba. Many applicants were declined because of lack of dormitory space. There is ample dining room, chapel and class room capacity for 200.

The Student must be sixteen years of age or more and a Christian: the charge for board and tuition is but thirty-four dollars a month. In doing a large part of the regular work of the Institute, the students are taught farming, caring for stock, cutting and sawing of timber, carpentry, gardening, laundering, cooking, baking, canning fruit and vegetables, sewing, etc.

The Property Comprises 527 acres, half of it woodland, and 160 acres tillable, with abundant water-power, and a lake of 1 ½ acres besides Toccoa Glen and Falls. There are sixteen buildings, large and small. An important factor in keeping down living costs is the farm, which produces a considerable portion of the food, including wheat, corn, beef, pork, poultry, fruit, garden vegetables, and sorghum molasses. The work is done with a small force of men supplemented by the students.

Toccoa Falls Institute Doctrinally stands for unmutilated Bible, believing it to be the inspired word of God; salvation through the blood of Christ; victory in the life through the indwelling Christ; the baptism of the Holy Spirit for life and witnessing; rugged consecration to sacrificial service; practical faith in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ for spiritual, temporal and physical needs; and burning missionary zeal to evangelize the world and bring back the King.

Graduates are supposed to know how to preach, pray, sing, play organ or piano, conduct gospel singing, understand at least one language besides English, teach school, keep house, cook, sew, build a table, oversee the building of a house, and above all, point a soul to Jesus Christ. While at school they hold services weekly in nearby towns, convict camps, constructions camps, and schoolhouses in the mountains. In addition they also set up tents within 300 miles radius, and hold evangelistic meetings, reaching many thousands, the value of which is evidence by the rich fruitage of souls saved.

Mission Fields now have the Institute’s graduates in India, Africa, China, South America, Central America and Cuba, and others under appointment ready to go. In addition nearly all the others who have ever been in the school are engaged in definite Christian work in the homeland.

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