Cumberland River Cumberland River The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The river drains almost of southern Kentucky and north-central Tennessee. The river flows generally west from 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. In addition, the river system has been extensively developed for flood control,
Big South Fork of the Cumberland River Treaty of Tellico had officially expelled the native Cherokee peoples from the river basin, although the land, which was not well suited to agriculture, was mostly passed over by settlers until the founding of the ultimately failed colony of Rugby, Tennessee, by Thomas Hughes in the 1880s. The mining community of modern day Blue Heron, Kentucky, was established in 1937 along the banks of the Big South Fork, and operated until 1962 when it was abandoned by the Stearns Coal and Lumber Company. The site was later recreated in the 1980s and reopened as an outdoor museum. The Big South