Natural Resources

Named after The Duke of Cumberland, the Cumberland River bisects Carthage into north and south regions. Its headwaters, the Poor, Martin’s, and Clover Forks, converge in Harlan, Kentucky. It travels southeast into Nashville, east through Carthage, and eventually empties into the Ohio River at Smithland, Kentucky. This 696 mile river drains almost 18,000 square miles, and is the sixteenth longest river in the United States. The Caney Fork splits from the Cumberland just east of the TN-25 Bridge in Carthage.

The Tennessee River, entering the Byway corridor at Watts Bar Lake in Kingston and traveling south from Rockwood, has a drainage basin covering about 40,910 square miles, and is considered to be “one of the world’s greatest irrigation and hydropower systems and a major waterway of the southeastern United States.” It is formed at the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers and flows south-southwest to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Its westward branch passes through the Cumberland Plateau and into northeast Alabama, continues north into Tennessee and Kentucky, and finally joins the Ohio River.

Clay, Jackson and Smith Counties

Cordell Hull Lake, managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, is located on the Cumberland River and contains a dam supporting a hydroelectric plant about five miles upstream from Carthage. The lake was named after Nobel Peace Prize winner and statesman, Cordell Hull.

Cumberland and Morgan Counties

Name after Obediah Terrell, a longhunter who passed through the Cumberland Plateau in the late 18th century, the Obed became a Wild and Scenic River in 1976 and part of the National Park Service. Visitors to the 45-mile river can partake in a number of activities including primitive camping at Rock Creek Campground; picnicking at Nemo Picnic Area; hiking on trails of varying lengths; hunting; fishing for bass, bluegill, catfish, and muskie; rock climbing the sandstone bluffs; canoeing; kayaking; rafting; and whitewater paddling. It is advised that only experienced rock climbers and whitewater paddlers should partake in these activities. Whitewater opportunities range from Class II to Class IV. Rock climbing routes can reach heights of 200 feet.