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28-726: The Obey River is a 47.8-mile-long (76.9 km) tributary of the Cumberland River in the U.S. state of Tennessee . It joins the Cumberland River near the town of Celina , which is generally considered to be the Cumberland's head of navigation . Via the Cumberland and Ohio rivers, the Obey River is part of the Mississippi River watershed. Near its mouth, the Obey is impounded by

56-499: A full moon on clear nights, a lunar rainbow or moonbow is sometimes formed by the water of the falls. The formation of a moonbow at Cumberland Falls is aided by a combination of steep gorge walls, which reduce dissipation of the waterfall's mist by wind, and a wide gorge which allows increased levels of moonlight. It is the only location in the Western Hemisphere where moonbows are known to appear with regularity, and

84-541: A greater volume of water originally, because two major tributaries , the Laurel River and the Rockcastle River , both lie between the modern day location and the escarpment. The erosion of the underlying rock, and movement of the falls downward in height, and upstream in location will continue until the falls eventually disappears, and the river again becomes smoothly graded . The area surrounding Cumberland Falls

112-583: A hospital during the American Civil War . The falls and 400 acres of surrounding land were purchased in 1875 by Socrates Owens, who there built the Cumberland Hotel, which was taken over by his wife Nannie and his son Edward following his death. The land and hotel were purchased in 1902 by Henry Brunson, who managed it along with his two daughters until 1931. In 1927 the Kiwanis Club sponsored

140-484: A passage for hunters and settlers, the Cumberland River also supported later riverboat trade, which traveled to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Villages, towns, and cities were located at landing points along its banks. Through the middle of the 19th century, settlers depended on rivers as the primary transportation routes for trading and travel. In more recent history, a number of severe floods have struck various regions that

168-486: A point below the falls. However, the Cumberland Falls Preservation Association , formed by businessman Rober Blair, convinced T. Coleman du Pont to purchase the falls and surrounding land, and stipulate they were never to be used for hydroelectricity. In 1930, following his death, the family of du Pont made the decision to donate the 539 acres (218 ha) to the state. On March 10, 1930,

196-571: A resistant sandstone bed, is 68 feet (21 m) high and 125 feet (38 m) wide. Cumberland Falls is the second largest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains , and the largest waterfall as measured by water volume in the Eastern United States , south of Niagara Falls . The falls divides the river into two sections, the Upper and Lower, or "below the falls" section. The water which flows through

224-767: A source in the Appalachian Mountains to its confluence with the Ohio River near Paducah, Kentucky , and the mouth of the Tennessee River . Major tributaries include the Obey , Caney Fork , Stones , and Red Rivers. Although the Cumberland River basin is predominantly rural, there are also some large cities on the river, including Nashville and Clarksville , both in Tennessee. The river system has been extensively altered for flood control . Major dams impound areas of both

252-479: A trail to be built from nearby Corbin, Kentucky , and dedicated to Kentucky governor William J. Fields . Construction occupied some 200 laborers over nine weeks. However, as late as 1929, the Izaak Walton League wrote of access to the falls saying: The unspoiled charm of Cumberland Falls is due to the fact that the falls are difficult to reach ... Road maps show roads leading from Corbin, twenty miles to

280-534: Is believed that Cumberland Falls originated at the Pottsville Escarpment , near modern-day Burnside, Kentucky , and retreated to its current location approximately 45 miles (72 km) upstream. In its retreat, the falls cut what is now the Cumberland River gorge, reaching depths in places of up to 400 feet (120 m). At its original location, the falls was taller than it is currently, and has lost height due to erosion as it moved upstream. It also carried

308-416: Is believed the current falls formed as the result of erosion from its original starting place at an escarpment far downstream. The site of the falls was occupied in pre-modern times by a variety of indigenous peoples, and more recently has passed through multiple private owners until eventually being donated, along with surrounding land to Kentucky in 1933. A moonbow is regularly visible at this site. It

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336-593: Is joined by the Red River . It flows back into Kentucky at the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area , a section of land nestled between Lake Barkley , which is fed by the Cumberland River, and Kentucky Lake . Finally, the river flows north and merges with the Ohio River at Smithland , northeast of Paducah . The explorer Thomas Walker of Virginia in 1758 named the river, but whether for

364-504: Is now the intersection of Kentucky Route 38 and US Route 421 . A flood control project begun in 1992 diverted it through a tunnel under Little Black Mountain, from which it emerges in Baxter and converges with Martins Fork. Poor Fork begins as a small stream on Pine Mountain in Letcher County near Flat Gap, Virginia. It flows southwest in parallel with Pine Mountain until it merges with

392-579: The 2010 Tennessee floods , the river overflowed its banks and flooded Nashville and Clarksville, Tennessee . The downtown area was ordered to evacuate. Major flooding occurred along the Cumberland River at Pineville , Barbourville , and Williamsburg in early February 2020. Notes Bibliography [REDACTED]  This article incorporates public domain material from Major Flooding Inundates Southeast Kentucky Followed by Light Snow From February 6–7, 2020 . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . Cumberland Falls It

420-725: The Duke of Cumberland or the English county of Cumberland is not known. The Cumberland River was called Wasioto by the Shawnee Native Americans , who lived in this area. French traders called it the Riviere des Chaouanons , or "River of the Shawnee" for this association. The river was also known as the Shawnee River (or Shawanoe River ) for years after Walker's trip. Important first as

448-644: The Kentucky House and Senate overrode the veto of Governor Flem D. Sampson , and voted to accept the land from the du Pont family. The park was officially opened on September 7, 1931. In the 1950s, plans were again announced for the development of upstream hydroelectric power, but were again defeated by the Preservation Association. In 2016, two men, Dane Jackson and Nicholas Troutman, were charged with misdemeanor trespassing after intentionally going over Cumberland Falls in kayaks . During or near

476-556: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Dale Hollow Reservoir , site of a fish hatchery run by the federal government. This dam impounds the Obey for essentially its entire length, causing slack water well up both major tributaries, the East and West Forks. This lake is relatively deep due to the height of the dam and the depth of the gorges through which the Obey and its tributaries flowed; the impoundment also enters Kentucky in its Wolf River and Sulphur Creek and Illwill Creek embayments . Below

504-882: The main stem and many of its important tributaries. Its headwaters are three separate forks that begin in Kentucky and converge in Baxter, KY , located in Harlan County . Martin's Fork starts near Hensley Settlement on Brush Mountain in Bell County and snakes its way north through the mountains to Baxter. Clover Fork starts on Black Mountain in Holmes Mill, near the Virginia border, and flows west in parallel with Kentucky Route 38 until it reaches Harlan . Clover Fork once flowed through downtown Harlan and merged with Martins Fork at what

532-563: The Cumberland Falls gathers from a drainage area of 1,977 square miles (5,120 km ). In data collected between 1908 and 2017 by the United States Geological Survey , peak annual water flow at the falls occurred in 1927, at an average rate of 5,196 ft /s, and the all-time low occurred in 1988, during the 1988–89 North American drought , at an average rate of 1,324 ft /s. The all-time highest recorded water volume

560-464: The Kentucky Department of Parks publishes schedules for visitors. The ability of visitors to see a moonbow may vary with water level. At low levels, the falls may not produce sufficient mist for the phenomenon. Conversely, if conditions include substantial downstream wind, this may increase the level of mist and make a moonbow more likely to be visible. On average the falls, which flows over

588-672: The dam the stream makes two sharp bends before entering the Cumberland. The only major bridge on the free-flowing Obey, on State Route 53 , is located just below the second of these, Peterman Bend . 36°33′18″N 85°30′44″W  /  36.55500°N 85.51222°W  / 36.55500; -85.51222 Cumberland River The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States . The 688-mile-long (1,107 km) river drains almost 18,000 square miles (47,000 km ) of southern Kentucky and north-central Tennessee . The river flows generally west from

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616-526: The eastern US. Near Celina, Tennessee , the river crosses south into that state, where it is joined by the Obey River and Caney Fork . Northeast of Nashville , the river is dammed twice more, forming Cordell Hull Lake and Old Hickory Lake . After flowing through Nashville and picking up the Stones River , the river is dammed to form Cheatham Lake . The river turns northwest toward Clarksville , where it

644-482: The falls were Matthew Walton and Adam Shepard in 1800, both engineers who served under George Washington during the American Revolution . Walton and Shepard surveyed the land in 1814, and were issued a land patent in 1828. The first landowners to settle permanently at Cumberland Falls were Lewis Renfro, a Baptist minister, and his wife Mary, who built a cabin there in 1850, which would later be used as

672-464: The northeast, and from Williamsburg, eighteen miles from the southeast, but both these are so rough as to be practicable only for saddle-horses. In 1928, a proposal to accept the falls as a park was brought to the floor of the Kentucky Senate but was defeated. In the late 1920s, there were plans to build a hydroelectric power station upstream, and divert the river through a mountain tunnel to

700-464: The other two forks in Baxter. From there, the wider river, now named Cumberland, continues flowing west through the mountains of Kentucky before turning northward toward Cumberland Falls . The 68-foot (21 m) falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the southeastern United States and is one of the few places in the Western Hemisphere where a moonbow can be seen. Beyond Cumberland Falls,

728-629: The river flows through. In April 1977, Harlan, Kentucky , and many surrounding communities were inundated with floodwaters, destroying most of the homes and businesses within the floodplain of the river. This event led to the building of the Martins Fork Dam for flood control and the diversion of the Clover Fork around the city of Harlan. In addition, the river was diverted through a mountain cut in Loyall, Kentucky . In late April and early May 2010, due to

756-525: The river turns abruptly west once again and continues to expand as other creeks and streams feed into it. It receives the Laurel and Rockcastle rivers from the northeast, followed by the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River from the south. From here it flows into the man-made Lake Cumberland , formed by Wolf Creek Dam . The more than 100-mile (160 km) reservoir is one of the largest artificial lakes in

784-550: Was inhabited by Native Americans going as far back as 10,000 years. By 1650, the area had been visited by those from the Shawnee , Cherokee , Chickasaw , and the Creek peoples. The Cumberland, as well as the nearby Eagle Falls were both considered sacred by many. In 1750 the Cumberland Falls was rediscovered by the explorer Thomas Walker who named it after the Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn . The first recorded landowners of

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