In 1750 the Virginian Dr. Thomas Walker, leading a hunter party across the Appalachian Mountains, first mentions the 687 miles long Cumberland River and gave him this name. In the times of the famous Natchez Trace, the Cumberland River was used to bring goods on flatboats all the way from Nashville, TN, down the Mississippi River to Natchez and New Orleans.
Dams today are building popular recreational areas like the Lake Barkley and the Lake Cumberland. In the early days, the Cumberland River was almost impassable in low water conditions until in 1833 the Army Corps of Engineers started their work for keeping the river navigable.
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