The [Bottomless] Pools, just above the old Logan hotel or tavern in the same picturesque locality [Chimney Rock] are three circular holes from eight to fifteen feet in diameter, in the rock bed of the creek, all of which are said to be bottomless. It is evident that they were made by the revolution of small stones on the softer surface of the creek bed, kept in constant motion by the continual flow of the creek; but they are not bottomless, nor is there any danger of suction, as swimmers disport themselves in their cool depths every summer.
-John P. Arthur, Western North Carolina, A History, 1914.
Just one mile from the road, to the left (leaving it at the house of Mr. Washington Harris, at the foot of the mountain), are 'The Pools.' A small stream flows down a deep ravine, and at length, with a perpendicular fall of ten or twelve feet, plunges into a natural well, or pool, formed in the solid rock. This pool is perfectly round, perhaps fifteen feet in diameter, and about thirty in depth. The stream flows on for a few steps farther, and again falls into another pool, similar to the first, and about the same size and depth. A little farther on is the third pool, about twenty feet in diameter, and of unknown depth. The water in this has a rotary motion, but there seems to be no subterraneous outlet, as the volume of water below is equal to that above. When a stick, or branch of a tree is thrown into it, it will disappear for some time, and again rise on the upper side of the pool, then disappear again, as before, and so continue appearing and disappearing. The whole surface around the Pools is a solid and smooth rock.
- Account from unnamed traveler, ca. 1858
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