Lake Cumberland & the Moonbow Falls of Cumberland

Lake Cumberland was created in 1952 when the Army Corps of Engineers completed Wolf Creek Dam on the Cumberland River, impounding one of the largest reservoirs in the eastern United States at 101 miles long, 63,000 surface acres, and 1,255 miles of shoreline — longer than the entire coast of Michigan. The lake is named for the Cumberland River, which takes its name from the Duke of Cumberland, and has become one of Kentucky's premier houseboat and water recreation destinations, with a marina capacity for over 3,000 boats. General Burnside Island, connected to the park by a bridge, offers walking trails with panoramic views of the lake's open water and the surrounding Daniel Boone National Forest hillsides. The Kentucky state resort park here offers some of the best lake-view lodging in the state system.

The small city of Jamestown — Russell County's seat — sits on a peninsula extending into the lake's upper end and has developed a modest but pleasant waterfront with boat docks, a town park, and several waterfront restaurants. Walking the waterfront and watching the houseboats drift across the lake's deep blue water is a quintessentially unhurried Kentucky afternoon activity.

The marina restaurant on Jamestown's waterfront is the most atmospheric lunch option in the area, with outdoor deck seating over the water and a menu of Southern lake-country food — catfish, burgers, fried shrimp, and cold Kentucky beers. On busy summer weekends, houseboaters come ashore for lunch and the marina has the convivial energy of a genuine lakeside community.

Wolf Creek Dam is one of the largest earthen dams in the United States, completed in 1952 after ten years of construction by the Army Corps of Engineers. The dam is 5,736 feet long, 258 feet high, and holds back 6.1 million acre-feet of water in Lake Cumberland. An overlook at the dam's crest offers views both upstream across the vast lake and downstream over the tailwater of the Cumberland River — one of the finest trout fishing rivers in the South, fed by cold water released from the lake's depths. The Army Corps of Engineers visitor center at the dam (seasonal) has exhibits on the dam's construction and the flooding of several communities in 1952 when the lake filled.

Cumberland Falls is one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the eastern United States — a 125-foot-wide curtain of water dropping 68 feet in a single massive horizontal sheet across the full width of the Cumberland River gorge, earning it the nickname 'Niagara of the South.' Unlike most waterfalls that plunge in a narrow stream, Cumberland Falls crashes across the entire river width in a roaring, mist-generating wall of white water that is equally impressive from the downstream overlook and from the riverside trail at its base. The falls is most famous for its moonbow: on full moon nights with clear skies, the mist from the falls creates a genuine rainbow at night — a phenomenon that occurs reliably at only one other location in the Western Hemisphere (Victoria Falls in Africa). The morning light on the falls, particularly from the main overlook platform, is exceptional.

A moderate 1.5-mile trail from the main falls overlook descends into the gorge and crosses stepping stones in the Cumberland River to reach Eagle Falls — a beautiful 44-foot waterfall hidden in a side gorge just downstream from the main falls. The contrast between the massive scale of Cumberland Falls and the intimate, enclosed beauty of Eagle Falls makes the combination one of the finest short waterfall hikes in Kentucky. The river crossing requires dry conditions and reasonable water levels; rangers can advise on safety.

The afternoon before the return drive is best spent at the lodge's stone veranda, where rocking chairs face the gorge and the distant sound of the falls drifts through the trees. The river walk below the lodge follows the Cumberland River downstream through old sycamores and river birches, past pools where smallmouth bass and rainbow trout hold in the clear tailwater. It is an unhurried, deeply restorative way to close a Kentucky weekend.