The history of the Chattooga River area reaches back into the time of the earliest native North Americans, who used the fertile valleys, diverse biology and water sources of the region for survival. As Butch Clay's "A Guide To The Chattooga River" states,

"Long before any Caucasians appeared here, the first Americans followed creeks and rivers and game trails up into these hills to occupy a fertile, temperate mountain country whose aboriginal lineaments we can only try to imagine. Native Americans lived here for thousands of years before pale-faced men from distant lands began pushing into the continent from the coasts in an inexorable human tide that would decimate much of the indigenous human and animal populations and radically alter the face of the continent."

When Europeans arrived in the area, the Cherokee Nation was in possession of the area and had several well-established 'towns'. The town located at Tugaloo was their most sacred and demonstrates the value of the Chattooga and surrounding area, as this town was located close to the confluence of the Chattooga and Tallulah Rivers. An interesting note, in Butch Clay's book is in reference to information noted by James Mooney , an ethnographer who gathered information regarding the Cherokee at the end of the 19th century. He states,

"The Cherokee thought that the streams and springs of the mountains, if followed back far enough, would lead to the underworld of spirit beings. They told tales of "water cougars" and "spearfingered ogres" who haunted the deep mountain fastnesses. The sound of the falls and rapids of their mountain rivers they referred to as the voice of "Long Man," the river god, who spoke a language that spiritual people could understand. As a people almost obsessively concerned with the purity and health of the human spirit, one of their most important observances was the "going to water" rite, a ceremonial immersion in the river believed to purify and make clean the living soul."

Over time, increasing numbers of settlers, who moved to the area initially in search of gold but remained as farmers, and the ravages of war, illness, alcohol and other factors weakened the Cherokee Nation from the strong and powerful nation it had once been. At it's most powerful, the Cherokee had possessed a territory of 40,000 acres. In 1838, the Cherokee Removal Act relocated the Cherokee to Oklahoma in what has come to be known as the Trail of Tears.

In the 1850's, the Blue Ridge Railroad, also known as the Black Diamond Railroad, set it's sites on completing a rail line connecting Charleston SC and Cincinnati OH, through North Carolina and Tennessee. This endeavor though met with bad timing, as the Civil War erupted and the State of South Carolina removed the funding. The plans required the construction of three bridges and twelve tunnels. One of these tunnels is the Stumphouse Tunnel north of Walhalla, near Issaqueena Falls, on Hwy. 28. The State of South Carolina, after expending more than a million dollars toward the construction of the tunnel, was unable to continue and the tunnel was abandoned in an unfinished state, the same state it exists in today. Visitors may enter the tunnel and walk to its terminating point, deep in the mountain. But be sure to bring a flashlight, there is no lighting and the tunnel remains about 50 degrees with high humidity (80-90%), year round.

In the late 1800's and early 1900's, this area was heavily logged as populations grew and technology improved allowing loggers to reach into areas never before accessible. The timber was removed and no reforestation efforts were made. This led to great wild fires and loss of the rich ground cover that had accumulated beneath the canopy of this mixed pine/hardwood forest over the centuries. But the Week's Law of 1911 created the route for the federal government to buy the decimated acres, which are now a part of the National Forests of the area.

The settlers who moved into the area have had a rich cultural impact on the present day population. They were primarily of Scottish and Irish descent. But the culture of the German settlers is also easily visible, with town names like Walhalla SC (related to the German word for Heaven) and activities such as the multiple Oktoberfests that occur in many municipalities (including 365 days of Oktoberfest in Helen GA). The quiet existence and subsistence lifestyles practiced by these settlers can be seen with the help of the Foxfire Museum, an organization who has painstakingly documented many of the minute details and methods of the settlers of the southern Appalachians.

In the 1930's, the Civilian Conservation Corp performed a great deal of work in the area. Plaques commemorating their efforts and documenting the fruits of their labor can be seen at many of the locations where they built or improved locations throughout the Chattooga area. Some of these places are the Oconee State Park , Oconee Station , Chau Ram County Park , and Walhalla Fish Hatchery
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As concerns over the protection of our last remaining wild places began to flourish and passionate discussion increased, the National Wilderness Protection Act of 1964 was passed. This led to a more specific concern over our free-flowing wilderness river areas. A study was supported and an inventory of possible rivers to be included in the yet unpassed Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was created. In 1968, this act was passed and it included only eight rivers, which had been culled from an initial list of 650. Several rivers were slated for future study and among them was the Chattooga, one of four in the Southeast and the only southern Appalachian river being considered. In 1974, the Chattooga was included in the Wild and Scenic Act, and management of it and it's resources were placed under the authority of the Sumter National Forest , Stumphouse Ranger Station.
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At the conclusion of the study of the Chattooga, the task force submitted their report, which Buzz William's quoted in the Chattooga Quarterly , Spring 2004.

"This is one of the longest and largest free-flowing mountain streams in the Southeast remaining in a relatively undeveloped condition…The beauty of the rapids and scenery of the Chattooga drainage is unsurpassed in the Southeastern United States."