News And Notes From Noccalula Falls

One of the most exciting things happening around the park is the beginning phase of our Animal Habitat getting back to the way it used to be, with new barn coming and new animals being added. It’s been a few years now since we had our horrible barn fire which took the lives of so many of our inside animals. Since that time, we have been working to rebuild and repopulate our entire Animal Habitat. We recently already broke ground on the new and improved barn as well as purchased a few new animals for the habitat. With all of these great things happening, we wanted to jot down a few words about our wonderful Animal Habitat. Just a reminder here, the current Animal Habitat is open daily from 9:00am until 5:00pm seven days a week. Old favorite animals like…

The past few years at Noccalula Falls have been filled with growth. This year is no different. We have multiple construction projects going on as we type. The new Train Station is one of those projects and I am please to report it is coming alone nicely. Although this post is meant to provide an…

Under the great leadership of our Parks and Recreation Department, as well as the Mayor and City Council, Noccalula Falls Park and Campground continues to grow and move into the future, all while keeping an eye on the past and the history of our park. We have some really exciting projects going on right now and more to come in the future. First off, we have finished our Mini Golf re-carpeting project. All 18 holes plus the practice green were redone with brand new carpet, flags and seating areas. If you haven’t been to our Mini Golf Course, you need to check it out. It is challenging as well as fun and has never looked so good. The prices are great too!! Next, we are heading into the final preparation days for our new Animal Habitat Barn. as you may…

Before Jack’s, before the trains, before the animal habitat, there was the Noccalula Nik Nak. What a great place! If you are or were a fan of Mom and Pop burger joints, then you would have loved the Nik Nak. They had great burgers and fries, wonderful chicken fingers, and the best ice cream treats…

One of the most interesting things we have around Noccalula Falls if the Statue of Princess Noccalula. (If you want a quick summary of Princess Noccalula the person, Click Here.) Since 1969, she has been perpetually poised to take a leap off of our 90 foot waterfall into the waters below, but few people actually know the story behind the statue. Well here it is with all of the facts I could dig up. Our statue was commissioned by the Women’s Club of Gadsden in 1067 and was paid for entirely by donations made by the residents of Etowah County Alabama The stature was sculped by Dr. Suzanne Silvercruys of Tucson, Arizona. Dr. Silvercruys was originally a Norwegian Heiress before coming to the United States. Although she was not born in this country, she was well known as an American…

It’s time to open up the park for the public again. The Christmas lights are gone and the weather is getting warmer and another season of fun is upon us. Join us Wednesday March 1st, 2023 as we begin our 70th season at Noccalula Falls Park. We’ve been cleaning the park, planting the flowers, washing the trains, stocking the Gift Shop, and getting the Petting Zoo ready for you. I’ll keep this one short. Come join us for all the fun during what we hope to be the greatest year ever!!

Hello there and welcome to this issue of News and Notes from Noccalula Falls. This time out, we have some truly huge news for you. Way back in May of 2021, our petting zoo barn caught fire and burned to the ground. We lost many animals in the fire and it was devastating to everyone of us here at the Falls. There is just no way to prepare yourself for a disaster such as that. Well here we are almost two years out and we still don’t have a barn nor have we replaced our lost friends that lived in the barn. All that is about to change. This is an exclusive so hold on to your seats!! We have finally gotten everything in place to begin construction on the new Animal Habit!! Beginning in April, Noccalula Falls will once…

This post is sort of a catchup bit of writing to keep you up on our 2023 news and notes. An exciting and interesting article appeared in the Gadsden Times earlier this week outlining proposed changes to the Noccalula Falls corridor and the park and campgrounds. Here is a link to the article: https://www.gadsdentimes.com/story/news/2023/01/19/city-to-capitalize-on-noccalula-falls-with-updates-improvements/69737288007/ On…

Wow! It’s 2023 already. Even though these past few years have been challenging to say the least, Noccalula Falls continues our long tradition of providing a beautiful place to get away from it all. In addition to our beautiful park, which features the Pioneer Village, Botanical Gardens, Animal Habitat, all-new Trains, and the ever-popular Gorge…

Today is December 6th and we are already well into the 2022 version of Christmas at the falls. Hard to believe that time passes so fast. You see, CATF is our biggest event of the year and this year is even more special and important to us here at the Falls. This is what we have worked for for nearly a year. This past year has been a very stressful year for us. We undertook a major construction project getting the new trains ready for CATF and doing so was not as easy as we had hoped. We had to take up every track, re-elevate the path, alter the course or the train, tear down two platforms, redesign our main platform, update electricity throughout the park and lay down new asphalt once everything was ready. In addition, we had to…

This post is sort of an extra post, or an addition to the one I did the other day about our new trains. I really just wanted to document the delivery of our second train to the tacks here at Noccalula Falls Park. It’s been a  long journey for this here train. She’s a show train and as such has been the shining example of how good an electric train can be. I have to say that as the Train Manager, it does my heart good to see everyone at the Falls so excited because of these new trains. Not one day goes by that I don’t have someone here in the park tell me that they want to learn to drive the train. It’s wonderful. Anyway, as I type they are putting the engine (#409) on the tracks. It…