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River

Cumberland River

1,107 km from source to mouth · United States.

United StatesUnited StatesFlows into Ohio River

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouthNashvilleClarksville
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

1,107km

Average flow

860m³/s

Basin

46,830km²

Drop

376m

from 359 m to -17 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

1,107 km of river and 29 stops on the way: 4 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

359 m-17 m
Clover Fork Cumberland Riverat 359 m0 km
Cumberland Falls169 km
Lake Cumberland159 km²323 km
Dale Hollow Reservoir90 km²450 km
Cordell Hull Lake37 km²555 km
Old Hickory Lake58 km²703 km
Nashville689,447 people742 km
Clarksville166,722 people853 km
Lake Barkley255 km²1,008 km
Ohio Riverat -17 m1,107 km
02505007501,107 km
  1. 0 kmClover Fork Cumberland Riverat 359 m
  2. 61 kmKentucky Route 2014 Bridge
  3. 169 kmCumberland Falls
  4. 169 kmEagle Falls
  5. 173 kmDog Slaughter Falls
  6. 200 kmRockcastle Rivertributary
  7. 323 kmLake Cumberland159 km²
  8. 450 kmDale Hollow Reservoir90 km²
  9. 555 kmCordell Hull Lake37 km²
  10. 562 kmCaney Forktributary
  11. 563 kmCordell Hull Bridge
  12. 703 kmOld Hickory Lake58 km²
  13. 709 kmOld Hickory Bridge
  14. 717 kmHermitage37,814 people
  15. 719 kmpipeline bridge near Nashville, TN
  16. 720 kmStones Rivertributary
  17. 741 kmSilliman Evans Bridge
  18. 742 kmKorean War Veterans Memorial Bridge
  19. 742 kmJohn Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge
  20. 742 kmNashville689,447 people
  21. 743 kmWoodland Street Bridge
  22. 746 kmLyle H. Fulton Memorial Bridge
  23. 812 kmHarpeth Rivertributary
  24. 849 kmJohn T. Cunningham Memorial Bridge
  25. 852 kmRJ Corman Railroad Bridge
  26. 853 kmClarksville166,722 people
  27. 855 kmRed Rivertributary
  28. 917 kmDover1,826 people
  29. 1,008 kmLake Barkley255 km²
  30. 1,009 kmKentucky Lake575 km²
  31. 1,107 kmOhio Riverat -17 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Kentucky and Tennessee, United States

At the mouth it carries 862 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.9 seconds. It drops from 359 m to -17 m, 0.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 46,830 km², about the size of BT. 2.4 million people live in it. Highest water: from January to April. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 76% of a year's flow.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • NashvilleLargest city on its banks · 689,447 people
  • Nashville International Airport (BNA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 10 km from the cityCar hire at BNA airport (Nashville)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water159 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe9 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • April, June and from August to OctoberThe best months to visit

Cumberland River, month by month

Highest water: from January to April

Best months to visit: April, June and from August to October.

1,500
1°101 mmJan
1,500
3°106 mmFeb
1,500
9°130 mmMar
1,300
14°111 mmApr
1,100
18°122 mmMay
680
23°105 mmJun
540
25°117 mmJul
290
24°96 mmAug
290
21°94 mmSep
230
14°78 mmOct
690
9°111 mmNov
1,200
4°123 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 230 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,500 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Car hire at BNA airport (Nashville)Discover CarsSee 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Cumberland River: the basin in numbers

46,413 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

DammedReservoirs can hold 76% of a year's flow: much of the river is a chain of lakes.
  • 2.4millionpeople live in the basin
  • 53/km²people per km²
  • 308maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,332mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 13.4°Caverage air temperature
  • 3%protected areas
  • 1.6%covered by lakes
  • 17km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 59% Forest
  • 26% Cropland
  • 4% Pasture
  • 4% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Cumberland River: what you find on the way

  • 12DamsPine Mountain State Park Lake Dam, Noes Breakwater, Wolf Creek Dam and 9 more
  • 7Weirs
  • 5LocksCumberland River, Old Hickory Lock and 3 more
  • 16WaterfallsCumberland Falls, Eagle Creek Falls, Dog Slaughter Falls and 13 more
  • 9RapidsCenter Rock Rapids (III), Surfers (II+), Pinball (III) and 6 more
  • 140Boat rampsNoes Boat Ramp, Mouth of Laurel Boat Ramp, Sawyer Boat Ramp and 137 more
  • 4Ferry piers
  • 15MarinasBurnside Marina, Wolf Creek Marina, Lake Cumberland State Dock and 12 more
  • 2River beachesCraig Waterfront, Stahlman Waterfront

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Cumberland River in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 3waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
  • 6lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 26mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Waterfalls (3)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Cumberland Fallskm 158
  2. Eagle Fallskm 158
  3. Dog Slaughter Fallskm 161

Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

Lakes and reservoirs (6)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Lake Cumberlandkm 301159km²
  2. Dale Hollow Reservoirkm 41990km²
  3. Cordell Hull Lakekm 51637km²
  4. Old Hickory Lakekm 65558km²
  5. Lake Barkleykm 938255km²
  6. Kentucky Lakekm 940575km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (26)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Bob Lowe Knob14 km away
  2. Bobs Spur7.8 km away
  3. Chestnut Knob10 km away
  4. Fox Knob6.8 km away
  5. Gray Mountain14 km away
  6. Grays Knob7.0 km away
  7. Gross Knob8.6 km away
  8. Happy Top9.5 km away

18 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Cumberland River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Cumberland River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth29 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

Cumberland River in pictures

Cumberland river confluence baxter kentucky april 2017
MariAdkins · CC BY-SA 4.0
A view of the Cumberland River from the Old Jefferson Trail in Smyrna, Tennessee (7c203ae5-7667-4d0f-a7f3-ddda96482335)
National Trails Office ( US National Park Service ) · Public domain
Cumberland River (Clay County, Tennessee, USA) 1
James St. John · CC BY 2.0
Cumberland River (Clay County, Tennessee, USA) 2
James St. John · CC BY 2.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Ohio RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,579 km8,000 m³/s

Tributaries (18)

Also: Caney Fork, Red River, Harpeth River, Obey River, Rockcastle River, Falling Water River, Stones River, Stinking Creek, Big South Fork of the Cumberland River, Little River, Mill Creek, Plunkett Creek, Roaring River, Clover Fork Cumberland River, Laurel River, Martins Fork Cumberland River, Poor Fork Cumberland River, Richland Creek

In the same basin

Mississippi RiverUnited StatesUnited States3,766 km12,700 m³/sMissouri RiverUnited StatesUnited States3,726 km2,500 m³/sArkansas RiverUnited StatesUnited States2,364 km240 m³/sTennessee RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,049 km2,000 m³/sRed RiverUnited StatesUnited States2,189 km1,900 m³/sYellowstone RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,114 km390 m³/sPlatte RiverUnited StatesUnited States500 km200 m³/sCanadian RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,458 km200 m³/sIllinois RiverUnited StatesUnited States432 km660 m³/sAllegheny RiverUnited StatesUnited States523 km560 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Tennessee RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,049 km2,000 m³/s13 km awayWabash RiverUnited StatesUnited States960 km1,000 m³/s80 km awayMissouri RiverUnited StatesUnited States3,726 km2,500 m³/s239 km awayIllinois RiverUnited StatesUnited States432 km660 m³/s271 km awayKentucky RiverUnited StatesUnited States417 km280 m³/s334 km awaySt. Francis RiverUnited StatesUnited States686 km400 m³/s339 km awayOsage RiverUnited StatesUnited States444 km310 m³/s348 km awayArkansas RiverUnited StatesUnited States2,364 km240 m³/s444 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1143718) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesCascadyas, Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit