Cumberland Falls, Kentucky
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Cumberland Falls, sometimes called the Little Niagara, the Niagara of the South, or the Great Falls, is a
waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...
on the
Cumberland River The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 river drains almost of southern Kentucky and ...
in southeastern
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
. Spanning the river at the border of
McCreary McCreary is a surname. It is derived from the Irish and Scottish Gaelic surnames '' Mac Ruidhrí'' and '' Mac Ruaidhrí''. Hanks; Coates; McClure (2016) p. 1755. People with the surname * Aaron McCreary, American college baseball coach *Bear McC ...
and Whitley counties, the waterfall is the central feature of Cumberland Falls State Resort Park and is part of the
Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves The Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves is an agency of the Commonwealth of Kentucky in the United States dedicated to the protection of Kentucky's natural heritage. The agency's primary focus is protecting rare and endangered species habitats. It ...
designated Wild River System. It is believed the current falls formed as the result of erosion from its original starting place at an
escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...
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 A moonbow (also known as a moon rainbow or lunar rainbow) is a rainbow produced by moonlight rather than direct sunlight. Other than the difference in the light source, its formation is the same as for a solar rainbow: It is caused by the refracti ...
is regularly visible at this site.


History


Formation

It is believed that Cumberland Falls originated at the
Pottsville Escarpment The Pottsville Escarpment is a resistant sandstone belt of cliffs and steep sided, narrow crested valleys in eastern Kentucky, USA. It features rock shelters, waterfalls, and natural bridges. It is also called the Cumberland Escarpment and forms ...
, near modern-day
Burnside, Kentucky Burnside is a home rule-class city in Pulaski County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 611 at the 2010 census. In 2004, Burnside became the only town in Pulaski County or any adjoining county to allow the sale of alcoholic beverages ...
, and retreated to its current location approximately upstream. In its retreat, the falls cut what is now the Cumberland River gorge, reaching depths in places of up to . 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 a greater volume of water originally, because two major
tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...
, the
Laurel River The Laurel River is a tributary of the Cumberland River in southeast Kentucky in the United States. The river drains a rural region in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, in parts of Whitley and Laurel Counties. The town of Corbin i ...
and the
Rockcastle River The Rockcastle River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 8, 2011 river primarily in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, United States. It is a tributary of the Cumberland ...
, 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.


Pre-modern history

The area surrounding Cumberland Falls 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 The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...
,
Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
,
Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...
, and the Creek peoples. The Cumberland, as well as the nearby Eagle Falls were both considered sacred by many.


Modern history

In 1750 the Cumberland Falls was rediscovered by the explorer Thomas Walker who named it after the
Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain that was conferred upon a member of the British royal family. It was named after the county of Cumberland in England, and after Strathearn in Scotland. History The ...
. The first recorded landowners of the falls were Matthew Walton and Adam Shepard in 1800, both engineers who served under
George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
during the
American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
. Walton and Shepard surveyed the land in 1814, and were issued a
land patent A land patent is a form of letters patent assigning official ownership of a particular tract of land that has gone through various legally-prescribed processes like surveying and documentation, followed by the letter's signing, sealing, and publi ...
in 1828. The first landowners to settle permanently at Cumberland Falls were Lewis Renfro, a
Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
minister, and his wife Mary, who built a cabin there in 1850, which would later be used as a hospital during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. 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 Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. In 1987, the organization ...
sponsored a trail to be built from nearby
Corbin, Kentucky Corbin is a home rule-class city in Whitley, Knox and Laurel counties in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 7,856. Corbin is on Interstate 75 and US Route 25W, about hal ...
, 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 The Izaak Walton League of America, Inc. is an American environmental organization founded in 1922 that promotes natural resource protection and outdoor recreation. The organization was founded in Chicago, Illinois, by a group of sportsmen who wi ...
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 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 The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout Kentucky, the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky senators. T ...
but was defeated. In the late 1920s, there were plans to build a
hydroelectric power station Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also mo ...
upstream, and divert the river through a mountain tunnel to 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 to the state. On March 10, 1930, 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 professional whitewater kayakers, Dane Jackson and Nicholas Troutman, were charged with misdemeanor trespassing after intentionally going over Cumberland Falls in
kayak ] A kayak is a small, narrow human-powered watercraft typically propelled by means of a long, double-bladed paddle. The word ''kayak'' originates from the Inuktitut word '' qajaq'' (). In British English, the kayak is also considered to be ...
s..


Moonbow

During or near a full moon on clear nights, a lunar rainbow or
moonbow A moonbow (also known as a moon rainbow or lunar rainbow) is a rainbow produced by moonlight rather than direct sunlight. Other than the difference in the light source, its formation is the same as for a solar rainbow: It is caused by the refracti ...
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 The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the 180th meridian.- The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Geopolitically, ...
where moonbows are known to appear with regularity, and 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.


Statistics

On average the falls, which flows over a resistant
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
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 The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...
, and the largest waterfall as measured by water volume in the
Eastern United States The Eastern United States, often abbreviated as simply the East, is a macroregion of the United States located to the east of the Mississippi River. It includes 17–26 states and Washington, D.C., the national capital. As of 2011, the Eastern ...
, south of
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...
. The falls divides the river into two sections, the Upper and Lower, or "below the falls" section.


Water flow

The water which flows through the Cumberland Falls gathers from a drainage area of . In data collected between 1908 and 2017 by the
United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...
, peak annual water flow at the falls occurred in 1927, at an average rate of 5,196 ft3/s, and the all-time low occurred in 1988, during the 1988–89 North American drought, at an average rate of 1,324 ft3/s. The all-time highest recorded water volume was on Jan. 28, 1918, at a rate of 59,600 ft3/s, and the lowest recorded annual peak water flow was on Feb. 02, 1985, at 17,500 ft3/s, but was partially due to
water diversion Interbasin transfer or transbasin diversion are (often hyphenated) terms used to describe man-made conveyance schemes which move water from one river basin where it is available, to another basin where water is less available or could be utilized ...
. The lowest naturally occurring annual peak water flow was on Feb. 17, 1964, at 18,200 ft3/s.


In popular culture

;Film * '' The Kentuckian'', a 1955 movie starring
Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor. Initially known for playing tough characters with tender hearts, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year caree ...
, filmed on location * '' Raintree County'', a 1957 film starring
Montgomery Clift Edward Montgomery Clift (October 17, 1920 – July 23, 1966) was an American actor. A four-time Academy Award nominee, he was known for his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men", according to ''The New York Times''. He is best remembered f ...
,
Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...
and others, filmed on location * '' Fire Down Below'', a 1997 movie starring
Steven Seagal Steven Frederic Seagal ( ; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician. A 7th-Dan (rank), dan Black belt (martial arts), black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instru ...
, includes a flyover of the falls ;Literature *Cumberland Falls serves as the setting and a metaphor in the popular poem "Cumberland Falls" written by Kentucky Poet Laureate
Silas House Silas Dwane House (born August 7, 1971) is an American writer best known for his novels. He is also a music journalist, environmental activist, and columnist. His fiction is known for its attention to the natural world, working-class characters, a ...
. It was selected by the
Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outrea ...
. ;Video Games * ''
Red Dead Redemption 2 ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the ''Red Dead'' series and a prequel to the 2010 game ''Red Dead Redemption''. The story is set in a fictiona ...
'' features a waterfall inspired by the falls. This waterfall is also called Cumberland Falls.


See also

*
Daniel Boone National Forest The Daniel Boone National Forest (originally the Cumberland National Forest) is a national forest in Kentucky, United States. Established in 1937, it includes of federally owned land within a proclamation boundary. The name of the forest was ...
, in which Cumberland Falls is located *
List of waterfalls This list of notable waterfalls of the world is sorted by continent, then country, then province, state or territory. A waterfall is included if it is at least tall and has an existing Wikipedia article, or it is considered historically sig ...
* List of waterfalls of Kentucky


Notes


References


External links


Kentucky tourism siteKentucky state parks information page
* from
Kentucky Educational Television Kentucky Educational Television (KET) is a statewide television network serving the U.S. Commonwealth (U.S. state), commonwealth of Kentucky as a member of PBS. It is operated by the Kentucky Authority for Educational Television, an agency of ...
{{Authority control Landforms of McCreary County, Kentucky Waterfalls of Kentucky Landforms of Whitley County, Kentucky Daniel Boone National Forest Cumberland River Sacred waters