Chimney Rock State Park  »  Welcome!

On January 29, 2007 Gov. Mike Easley announced the purchase the landmark Chimney Rock Park in Rutherford County from the Morse family's Chimney Rock Company. The park will become the centerpiece of a new state park under development in Hickory Nut Gorge.

The agreement was the result of two years of negotiations between Chimney Rock Co. and the state. Under the terms of the agreement, Chimney Rock Co. will continue to operate the park through 2007 while the state parks system develops an operations plan.

Chimney Rock Park has been a tourist attraction in western North Carolina since a stairway was built to the rock's summit in 1885. In 1902, Lucius B. Morse of Missouri bought the site and began developing the park. Its facilities include a tunnel and elevator to the rock summit, a visitor center, nature center and a network of hiking trails to geologic points of interest and the 404-foot Hickory Nut Falls.