In 1882 the extension of the railroad decreased the travel time between Atlanta and Tallulah Falls from days to hours and made the trip affordable for more Georgians. Nearly twenty hotels and boardinghouses sprang up around the falls to accommodate the increased number of visitors. By 1885, Colonel Rufus Lafayette Moss, Sr., Thomas Abraham Robinson, William Berry, J.M. Cartledge, and William D. Young recognized the need to officially incorporate the Town of Tallulah Falls. In addition to its many lodgings, the town of Tallulah Falls had three churches, a railroad depot, a telegraph office, a post office, a bar, and for a brief time in 1897, a newspaper, all largely supported by the tourist industry. Besides enjoying the beauty of the falls, visitors could go horseback riding, hunt, fish, bowl, or play tennis during the day; nightly entertainment included music, dancing, and card playing.
