| Turner Falls | |
| Location: | Turner Falls Park, Interstate 35, Davis, Oklahoma, United States |
| Type: | Fan |
| Height: | 77 feet |
Turner Falls is a waterfall on Honey Creek in the Arbuckle Mountains of south-central Oklahoma, United States, 6miles south of Davis.[1] [2] With a height of 77feet, 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. Only experienced swimmers should swim there.https://oklahoman.com/article/5635647/four-people-drown-in-southern-oklahoma-in-one-week
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]
Recreational use began in or before 1868. At the time, Turner Falls was located in Pickens County, Chickasaw Nation.[5]
Today, the falls are part of Turner Falls Park, a city park operated by the city of Davis, Oklahoma.[6] The Falls cascade into a natural swimming pool, one of two such pools within the park, 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 1500acres, and also contains nature trails, caves and other interesting geological features. It also has a walk-in castle, 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.