The park was officially opened on September 7, 1931. Sampson, and voted to accept the land from the du Pont family. : 103–5 On March 10, 1930, the Kentucky House and Senate overrode the veto of Governor Flem D. : 60 In 1930, following his death, the family of du Pont made the decision to donate the 539 acres (218 ha) to the state. Coleman du Pont to purchase the falls and surrounding land, and stipulate they were never to be used for hydroelectricity. : 314–5 However, the Cumberland Falls Preservation Association, formed by businessman Rober Blair, convinced T. In the late 1920s, there were plans to build a hydroelectric power station upstream, and divert the river through a mountain tunnel to a point below the falls. In 1928, a proposal to accept the falls as a park was brought to the floor of the Kentucky Senate but was defeated. Road maps show roads leading from Corbin, twenty miles to the northeast, and from Williamsburg, eighteen miles from the southeast, but both these are so rough as to be practicable only for saddle-horses. The unspoiled charm of Cumberland Falls is due to the fact that the falls are difficult to reach. : 22 However, as late as 1929, the Izaak Walton League wrote of access to the falls saying: : 315 Construction occupied some 200 laborers over nine weeks. In 1927 the Kiwanis Club sponsored a trail to be built from nearby Corbin, Kentucky, and dedicated to Kentucky governor William J. Illustration of the falls from the King's Hand-book of the United States, 1891 The land and hotel were purchased in 1902 by Henry Brunson, who managed it along with his two daughters until 1931. The falls and 400 acres of surrounding land were purchased in 1875 by Socrates Owens, who there built the Cumberland Hotel, which was taken over by his wife Nannie and his son Edward following his death. The first landowners to settle permanently at Cumberland Falls were Lewis Renfro, a Baptist minister, and his wife Mary, who built a cabin there in 1850, which would later be used as a hospital during the American Civil War. : 22 : 314 Walton and Shepard surveyed the land in 1814, and were issued a land patent in 1828. : 22 The first recorded landowners of the falls were Matthew Walton and Adam Shepard in 1800, both engineers who served under George Washington during the American Revolution. In 1750 the Cumberland Falls was rediscovered by the explorer Thomas Walker who named it after the Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn. The Cumberland, as well as the nearby Eagle Falls were both considered sacred by many. : 22 By 1650, the area had been visited by those from the Shawnee, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and the Creek peoples. The area surrounding Cumberland Falls was inhabited by Native Americans going as far back as 10,000 years. : 19 The erosion of the underlying rock, and movement of the falls downward in height, and upstream in location will continue until the falls eventually disappears, and the river again becomes smoothly graded. It also carried a greater volume of water originally, because two major tributaries, the Laurel River and the Rockcastle River, both lie between the modern day location and the escarpment. : 11 At its original location, the falls was taller than it is currently, and has lost height due to erosion as it moved upstream. In its retreat, the falls cut what is now the Cumberland River gorge, reaching depths in places of up to 400 feet (120 m). It is believed that Cumberland Falls originated at the Pottsville Escarpment, near modern-day Burnside, Kentucky, and retreated to its current location approximately 45 miles (72 km) upstream. It is the only site in the Western Hemisphere where a moonbow is regularly visible.ĭetail of a USGS topographical map showing Cumberland Falls, the wide plunge pool immediately downstream (northward), as well as Eagle Falls on the west bank, and the rapids of Center Rock further downstream The site of the falls was occupied in pre-modern times by a variety of indigenous peoples, and more recently has passed through multiple private owners until eventually being donated, along with surrounding land to Kentucky in 1933. It is believed the current falls formed as the result of erosion from its original starting place at an escarpment far downstream. Spanning the river at the border of McCreary and Whitley counties, the waterfall is the central feature of Cumberland Falls State Resort Park and is part of the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves designated Wild River System. Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, McCreary County & Whitley County, Kentucky, United Statesģ6★0′17″N 84☂0′40″W / 36.83801°N 84.34444°W / 36.83801 -84.34444 Coordinates: 36★0′17″N 84☂0′40″W / 36.83801°N 84.34444°W / 36.83801 -84.34444Ĭumberland Falls, sometimes called the Little Niagara, the Niagara of the South, or the Great Falls, is a waterfall on the Cumberland River in southeastern Kentucky.
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