State Partnership Program

Video by Chad Eller

Bushwhacker Falls at W. Kerr Scott Reservoir

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Atlantic Division

June 18, 2022 | 1:00

Bushwhacker Falls is located at Fort Hamby Campground at W. Kerr Scott Dam and Reservoir in Wilkesboro, NC. The area is rich in history. After the Civil War outlaws from both the Confederate and Union armies would form gangs known as Bushwhackers who would terrorize the local communities. Fort Hamby was a farmhouse in the area overtaken and fortified by a man known only as Wade. Hamby was the surname of the women who lived there before the bandits overtook the farm house. On 14 May 1865, several hundred men formed a militia and attacked the stronghold of thieves and murderers. After an evening of back and forth gun fire the militia set the house ablaze in the early morning hours. Wade called out for terms, which he was denied. Eventually the attackers rushed the fort, capturing four men who were executed onsite by firing squad. Wade and some others managed to escape never to be heard from again.