When I visited Tennessee in December 2009, I ended up driving around a considerable amount of the central portion of the state. Some counties and areas have a considerable number of waterfalls within a short distance of each other. That is not the case for Waterloo Falls, with only Cummins Falls and the smaller Hardy-Reagan Falls and being relatively nearby.
I hadn’t actually even planned on visiting Waterloo Falls. I intended to visit Cummins Falls, only to drive by and realize that there was no place to park. I later learned a very sad tragedy had occurred at the falls, and the area was now blocked off. (As of 2017, Cummins Falls has a designated state park.) I ended up driving about 9 miles to find Waterloo Falls instead. It’s not extremely tall or extremely wide. It’s almost right in the middle. What I love about this falls is its photogenic nature. Without much difficulty, I was able to achieve a really spectacular cascading effect. I think that was just pure luck, but if you look at the right portion of the picture, you’ll even notice I was able to capture a rainbow formed by the mist from the falls. I just love the way this waterfall looks.
Directions:
- From the junction of US-70N and TN-136 in Cookeville, head north on SR-136 for about 10 miles.
- After that 10 miles, bear left onto Waterloo Road.
- On Waterloo Road, you’ll go down a mildly steep, narrow dirt road to a “parking” area, where if you open your window, you’ll hear the falls. The area is a short distance from a house, so please respect private property nearby.
Accessibility: 10/10 (easy)
Height: 35′
Length of Hike: negligible
Waterloo Falls in late December 2009
Where in the World is Waterloo Falls?
The Waterfall Record 
hey man, apparently you didn’t catch burgess falls which has it’s own state park not a fifteen minute drive from cummins falls and come back around to cummins since it isn’t really blocked off and never has been. Especially now that the Tennessee Parks and Greenways is trying to buy it to turn it into a state park.
you should also look at this website for falls in tennessee:
http://www.cs.utk.edu/~dunigan/landforms/falls.php
Nope, I didn’t miss Burgess Falls. I guess they are closer than it seems. I looked it up on google maps, and the two falls are only about 22 miles apart in terms of driving distance. It took me almost 40 minutes between the two falls, so I guess it was more of a time issue.
And I hope to retry and visit Cummins Fulls. When I drove by what I think was the falls area, there was really no place for me to safely park. If the fencing weren’t there, I would have been able to park…I could tell there used to be room, but there wasn’t when I was there.
hi, Cummins Fall – 1st Sat hike – June 4, meet for a guided hike. There will be room for parking. look up TN Parks and Greenways or Cummins Fall on facebook. My husband will be leading hikes on June 4. Let me know if you would like more info.
We live close to Burgess Falls and are about to leave out to see Waterloo. We’ve never been to Waterloo.
thanks. C Bryant
If you hike downstream from Waterloo you will find several more waterfalls. One is another creek falling into Spring Creek. It is around 40 feet tall.