Rural Economy: Creelsboro and the Cumberland | Kentucky Studies

Today, Creelsboro, Kentucky, is a quiet, nearly deserted community on the Cumberland River in south-central Kentucky. The Cumberland River runs west from the Appalachian Mountains through southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee, then north back through Kentucky to the Ohio River.

Upriver from Creelsboro is Lake Cumberland, created by Wolf Creek Dam in 1952. Before the dam, Creelsboro was a bustling river town and a major stop for steamboats on their way to Nashville, Tennessee, and then eventually to New Orleans.