"The ..." a Cumberland Falls State Park Travel Page by ValerieThompson

The main attraction at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park is sometimes called the "Niagara of the South". This waterfall is the largest waterfall south of the Niagara and east of the Rockie Mountains. It is noted as one of the world's top ten. Any sunny morning this waterfall displays a beautiful rainbow above the mist. Often a double rainbow can be viewed. Each full moon when the sky is clear the unique moonbow appears. There are five viewing opportunities to view the Moonbow each month, two days before the full moon and two days after the full moon. The mystical moonlight on a clear night, a showering mist, and the wind together create the moonbow. Because of this unique predictable viewing opportunity at the Falls of the Cumberland, the rare moonbow, is often coupled with it's sister waterfall at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Africa.

This waterfall drops about 68 feet and at normal stage is about 125 feet wide. At flood stage it can spread to nearly 300 feet. Each second 24000 gallons of water rush to the river below. The Cumberland River begins in eastern Kentucky and meanders nearly 700 miles dipping into Tennessee at Nashville and turning north to empty into the Ohio River at Smithland about 15 miles above Paducah Kentucky. There are over 380 navigable miles of the Cumberland River which once ran free. Dams at Wolf Creek in Russell County, Kentucky and at Lake Barkley in western Kentucky now provide two of the largest man-made lakes in Kentucky.

Any sunny morning you can see a Rainbow at the Falls. Look for more rainbows throughout my pages.