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The Cumberland River is an important waterway in the Southern United States
Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States....
. It is 688 miles (1,106 km) long. It starts in Letcher County
Letcher County, Kentucky

Letcher County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 25,277. Its county seat is Whitesburg, Kentucky....
 in eastern Kentucky
Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a U.S. state located in the East Central United States of America. Kentucky is normally included in the group of Southern United States , but it is uncommonly included, geographically and culturally, in the Midwestern United States....
 on the Cumberland Plateau
Cumberland Plateau

The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia, part of Tennessee, and a small portion of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia ....
, flows through southeastern Kentucky and crosses into northern Tennessee
Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States United States. In 1796, it became the sixteenth state to join the United States....
, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before draining into the Ohio River
Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. It is approximately 981 miles long and is located in the eastern United States....
 at Smithland, Kentucky
Smithland, Kentucky

Smithland is a city in Livingston County, Kentucky, Kentucky, United States, at the confluence of the Ohio River and Cumberland River Rivers. The population was 401 at the 2000 United States Census....
. The Cumberland is one of three major Kentucky rivers with headwaters in Letcher County. The others are the Kentucky River
Kentucky River

The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River, 259 mi long, in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The river and its tributaries drain much of the central region of the state, with its upper course passing through the coal-mining regions of the Cumberland Mountains, and its lower course passing through the Bluegrass region in the north central...
 and the Big Sandy River
Big Sandy River (Ohio River)

The Big Sandy River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 28.79 mi long, in western West Virginia and northeastern Kentucky in the United States....
.

Cumberland River is a wild river above the headwaters of Lake Cumberland.






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The Cumberland River is an important waterway in the Southern United States
Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States....
. It is 688 miles (1,106 km) long. It starts in Letcher County
Letcher County, Kentucky

Letcher County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 25,277. Its county seat is Whitesburg, Kentucky....
 in eastern Kentucky
Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a U.S. state located in the East Central United States of America. Kentucky is normally included in the group of Southern United States , but it is uncommonly included, geographically and culturally, in the Midwestern United States....
 on the Cumberland Plateau
Cumberland Plateau

The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia, part of Tennessee, and a small portion of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia ....
, flows through southeastern Kentucky and crosses into northern Tennessee
Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States United States. In 1796, it became the sixteenth state to join the United States....
, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before draining into the Ohio River
Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. It is approximately 981 miles long and is located in the eastern United States....
 at Smithland, Kentucky
Smithland, Kentucky

Smithland is a city in Livingston County, Kentucky, Kentucky, United States, at the confluence of the Ohio River and Cumberland River Rivers. The population was 401 at the 2000 United States Census....
. The Cumberland is one of three major Kentucky rivers with headwaters in Letcher County. The others are the Kentucky River
Kentucky River

The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River, 259 mi long, in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The river and its tributaries drain much of the central region of the state, with its upper course passing through the coal-mining regions of the Cumberland Mountains, and its lower course passing through the Bluegrass region in the north central...
 and the Big Sandy River
Big Sandy River (Ohio River)

The Big Sandy River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 28.79 mi long, in western West Virginia and northeastern Kentucky in the United States....
.

Hydrography

The Cumberland River is a wild river above the headwaters of Lake Cumberland. Cumberland Falls
Cumberland Falls

Cumberland Falls, sometimes called the Little Niagara, the Niagara of the South, or the Great Falls, is a large waterfall on the Cumberland River in southeastern Kentucky....
, a 68-foot waterfall
Waterfall

A waterfall is usually a geology geologic formation resulting from water, often in the form of a stream, flowing over an erosion-resistant rock formation that forms a nickpoint, or sudden break in elevation....
 on this section of river, is one of the largest waterfalls in the eastern United States and is the only place in the Western Hemisphere where a moonbow
Moonbow

A moonbow is a rainbow produced by the moon rather than the sun. Moonbows are relatively faint, due to the smaller amount of light from the Moon....
 can be seen. Most of the river below Lake Cumberland's Wolf Creek Dam
Wolf Creek Dam

The Wolf Creek Dam is a multi-purpose dam on the Cumberland River in the western part of Russell County, Kentucky. The dam serves at once four distinct purposes: it generates hydroelectricity; it regulates and limits flooding; it releases stored water to permit year-round navigation on the lower Cumberland River; and it creates Lake Cumberla...
 is navigable because of several locks and dam
Dam

A dam is a barrier that Reservoirs surface water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates, levees, and Dike are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions....
s. A 90-mile section of its Big South Fork
Big South Fork of the Cumberland River

The Big South Fork of the Cumberland River is a river in Tennessee and Kentucky. It is a major drainage feature of the Cumberland Plateau, a major tributary of the Cumberland River system, a world-class whitewater canoeing and kayaking stream, and the major feature of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area....
 is protected by the National Park Service
National Park Service

The National Park Service is the List of United States federal agencies that manages all List of areas in the United States National Park System, many U.S....
 as Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area

The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area preserves the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River and its tributaries in northeastern Tennessee and southeastern Kentucky....
.

Dams at various locations of the Cumberland River have created large reservoirs for recreation such as Lake Barkley
Lake Barkley

Lake Barkley, a 58,000-acre artificial lake in Caldwell County, Kentucky, Livingston County, Kentucky, Lyon County, Kentucky, and Trigg County, Kentucky counties in Kentucky and extending into Tennessee, was impounded by the U.S....
 in western Kentucky and Lake Cumberland
Lake Cumberland

Lake Cumberland is an artificial lake in Clinton County, Kentucky, Laurel County, Kentucky, McCreary County, Kentucky, Pulaski County, Kentucky, Russell County, Kentucky, and Wayne County, Kentucky counties in Kentucky....
 (the deepest lake in the Tennessee and Cumberland river valleys) in southern Kentucky. Cordell Hull and Old Hickory Lake
Old Hickory Lake

Old Hickory Lake is a man-made lake in north central Tennessee. It is formed by the Old Hickory Lock and Dam , located on the Cumberland River at mile 216.2 in Sumner County, Tennessee and Davidson County, Tennessee, approximately upstream from Nashville, Tennessee....
 to the east of Nashville and Cheatham Lake to the west. Laurel Lake, on the Laurel River in southern Kentucky, the Dale Hollow Reservoir
Dale Hollow Reservoir

The Dale Hollow Reservoir is an artificial lake situated on the Kentucky/Tennessee border. The lake is formed by the damming of the Obey River, 7.3 miles above its juncture with the Cumberland River at river mile 380....
 on the Obey River in northeast middle Tennessee, and Percy Priest Lake
Percy Priest Lake

J. Percy Priest Lake is an artificial lake in north central Tennessee. It is formed by J. Percy Priest Dam, located between miles six and seven of the Stones River....
 on the Stones River in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the Capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County, Tennessee. It is the second most populous city in the state after Memphis, Tennessee....
 are each created by dams just upstream from their respective confluence with the Cumberland River.

History

Important first as a passage for hunters and settlers, the Cumberland River also supported later riverboat trade which reached to the Ohio and Mississippi
Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....
 Rivers. Villages, towns and cities were located at landing points along its banks. Through the middle of the 19th century, settlers depended on rivers for trading and travel.

In 1748, Dr. Thomas Walker
Thomas Walker (explorer)

Dr. Thomas Walker was a medical doctor and explorer from Virginia who led an expedition to what is now the region beyond the Allegheny Mountains area of British North America in the mid-18th century....
 led a party of hunters across the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains or , often called the Appalachians, are a vast mountain range in eastern North America. Definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians....
 from Virginia
Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
. Walker, a Virginian, was an explorer and surveyor of renown. He gave the name "Cumberland" to the lofty range of mountains his party crossed, in honor of Prince William, Duke of Cumberland whose name had become popular in America after the Battle of Culloden
Battle of Culloden

The Battle of Culloden was the final clash between the French-supported Jacobitism and the House of Hanover British Government in the 1745 Jacobite Rising#The 'Forty-Five'....
 in 1746. Walker's party pursued their journey by way of the Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap

Cumberland Gap is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains, also known as the Cumberland water gap. Famous in American history for its role as the chief passageway through the central Appalachians, it was an important part of the Wilderness Road....
 into what is today Kentucky. Finding a beautiful mountain stream flowing across their course they called it the "Cumberland River." Walker's journal entry for April 17, 1750, reads in part: "I went down the creek a-hunting, and found that it went into a river about a mile below our camp. This, which is Flat Creek and some other join'd, I called Cumberland River."

Previous to Walker's trip, the Cumberland River had been called Warioto by Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii....
 and Shauvanon by French traders. The river was also known as the Shawnee
Shawnee

The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are a people native to North America. They originally inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania....
 River (or Shawanoe River) for years after Walker's trip.

Several American Civil War
American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
 battles occurred near the Cumberland River, including the battle for Fort Donelson. The river's name has been used to name the Union
Union (American Civil War)

During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the Federal government of the United States of the United States, which was supported by the twenty-three states which were not part of the secession attempt by the 11 states that formed the Confederate States of America....
 Army of the Cumberland
Army of the Cumberland

The Army of the Cumberland was one of the principal Union armies in the Western Theater of the American Civil War during the American Civil War....
, and several U.S. Navy ships have been called USS Cumberland
USS Cumberland

Three ships of the United States Navy have been named Cumberland, after the Cumberland River.*The , a 50-gun sailing frigate launched in 1842....
.

Modern use

The Cumberland River is an important part of the Great Loop
Great loop

The circumnavigation of Eastern North America by water is known as The Great Loop. Also improperly referred to as the Great Circle Route , the trip varies from 5,000 miles to 7,500 miles depending on the options used....
, the circumnavigation of Eastern North America by water.