Cumberland Falls
Kentucky · height not recorded · Last verified 2026-05-15
Cumberland Falls is at 1,050 cfs of flow today, on the upper end of typical conditions. July averages 4.6" of precipitation here — expect high flow.
Right now
Streamflow
1,050 cfs
CUMBERLAND RIVER AT CUMBERLAND · 1h ago
Overnight
69°F
Chance Showers And Thunderstorms
Friday
82°F
Showers And Thunderstorms
Today's daylight
Sunrise 6:26 AM · Sunset 8:58 PM · 14h 32m
Snapshot built 11m ago. Sources: USGS · NWS JKL.
Cumberland Falls is a waterfall in McCreary County, Kentucky. Height has not been officially recorded. Access details and conditions have not yet been verified in person by Fallspots — the data on this page comes from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
Cumberland Falls sits in McCreary County, Kentucky. It drops along Cumberland River. The base sits at roughly 823 feet of elevation. Drive time is about 15 minutes from Whitley City. A trail — Eagle Creek Falls Trail — runs within 50 meters of the marked location. This is one of the more frequently visited falls in the state by our popularity model. Source records come from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
Cumberland 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. 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.
Is the water flowing right now?
Most waterfall sites don't tell you this. The waterfall itself is almost never gauged, but a USGS streamgage in the same watershed can tell you whether snowmelt has started, peaked, or run dry.
USGS gage 03404500 · 0.1 mi away
CUMBERLAND RIVER AT CUMBERLAND FALLS, KY
View live discharge data →
30-day streamflow
Below 30-day average↻ Same date last year: 598 cfs · 158% of last year — significantly wetter
When to go (from the climate data, not our opinion)
Monthly averages from Open-Meteo's reanalysis dataset (2020–2024). Highlighted months are when we think the waterfall is at its best — but the numbers are the numbers regardless.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip (in) | Snow days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 48 | 32 | 4.6 | 6.4 |
| Feb | 54 | 35 | 6.4 | 4.8 |
| Mar | 63 | 42 | 5 | 0.8 |
| Apr | 68 | 47 | 4.2 | 1 |
| May | 76 | 57 | 5.3 | 0 |
| Jun | 85 | 65 | 4 | 0 |
| Jul | 88 | 70 | 4.6 | 0 |
| Aug | 86 | 68 | 4.6 | 0 |
| Sep | 81 | 62 | 2.8 | 0 |
| Oct | 72 | 52 | 2.6 | 0.2 |
| Nov | 61 | 42 | 2.8 | 0.8 |
| Dec | 53 | 36 | 4.8 | 2.8 |
Source: Open-Meteo Historical Weather API · ERA5 reanalysis 2020–2024.
Compare to nearby falls
If this one isn't the right fit, here's how it stacks up against the closest documented falls. Every column is filterable on the site — not buried in 13,000 reviews.
| Waterfall | Distance | Height | Trail | Dogs | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cumberland Falls (this page) | — | — | — | — | — |
| Eagle Creek Falls | 0 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Dog Slaughter Falls | 2 mi | 20 ft | — | Y | Free |
| Star Creek Falls | 4 mi | — | — | Y | Free |
| Devil Creek Watefall | 5 mi | — | — | Y | Free |
| Amos Falls | 5 mi | — | — | Y | Free |
Questions visitors ask about Cumberland Falls
Answers built from our structured data. If a question isn't here, the fact is unverified — we'd rather omit than guess.
How far is Cumberland Falls from a major city?
Cumberland Falls is 11 miles from Whitley City (about 15 minutes' drive).
More waterfalls in Kentucky
Where it is
36.8387, -84.3451
Sources and live status
Where we got the data, and where to check current conditions before you drive.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumberland_Falls
Wikidata (Q38488)
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q38488
GeoNames (4289243)
https://www.geonames.org/4289243/
Last verified by Fallspots: 2026-05-15
Been there?
Marina and Theo verify pages one road trip at a time. If you've been to Cumberland Falls recently, your local knowledge improves the page for everyone. Pick the kind of contribution that fits — every email lands in our inbox and gets read (and credited when we publish).
Add a tip
Something we should know — best time, parking trick, that hidden viewpoint.
Share a photo
Have a CC-licensed image on Wikimedia or Flickr? Send the link.
Report a fix
Wrong height, closed trail, broken link — tell us what we got wrong.
We don't collect your email. Replies go directly to hello@fallspots.com.