Valley Falls, South Carolina
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Boiling Springs census division. It lies in ZIP code area 29316. It stands on Fawn Branch. The Survey maps it on the Valley Falls quadrangle. 8,012 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 810 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresValley Falls grew from 6,299 to 8,012 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 6,299 | |
| 2020 | 8,012 | +1,713 (+27%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 13 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1953 USGS Charlotte quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Charlotte quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1959 USGS Cowpens quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Charlotte quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Charlotte quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Valley Falls quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Gastonia quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Gastonia quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
180 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 180 fires within 5 miles of Valley Falls between 1992 and 2020, burning about 519 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 13 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 94 |
| Debris and open burning | 35 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 19 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 13 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 9 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 29 September 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 25 September 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 23 September 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 16 September 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 31 August 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 3 August 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 3 August 2011 | Fireworks | 3.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Valley Falls: 1 unknown, 1 past producer, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Titanium, Iron, Gold, Iron. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mcbee Placer | Gold | Past Producer | 1844 | |
| North Spartanburg | Titanium, Iron | Unknown | Placer , Modern , Fluvial | |
| Senia Prospect | Iron | Prospect |
Storms near this place
6 since 2013Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Valley Falls in 6 storm reports between 2013 and 2024: 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2022 | Lightning | Valley Falls | $200,000 | Media reported lightning struck a house in the Boiling Springs area which ignited a fire that destroyed the structure. |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Valley Falls | - | Utility company reported several trees and power lines blown down on the south side of Boiling Springs near I-85. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Valley Falls | - | County comms reported multiple trees blown down, some on power lines from the Boiling Springs area to near Chesnee. |
| May 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Valley Falls | - | Public reported trees blown down that damaged a chain link fence on Parris Bridge Rd at Sandifer Rd. Nws employee reported a karge tree uprooted near downtown Spartanburg, and Highway Dept reported multiple trees down at Brice Rd and Chapel Dr. |
| June 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Valley Falls | - | County comms reported multiple trees blown down from Boiling Springs/Spartanburg northeast to the Chesnee area. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Valley Falls | - | A tree was blown down on Hanging Rock Rd near Boiling Springs. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quail Ridge | 0.4 miles | 13 | |
| Midland Estates | 0.6 miles | 13 | |
| Mountainbrook | 0.7 miles | 13 | |
| Canterbury Heights | 0.7 miles | 13 | |
| Peachtree Gardens | 1.1 miles | 13 | |
| North Hill Acres | 1.1 miles | 13 | |
| Sherman Park | 1.1 miles | 13 | |
| Northbrook Park | 1.1 miles | 13 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Valley Falls | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1878888 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1251285. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.







