Cumberland Falls State Resort Park

Cumberland Falls drops about 68 feet along the Cumberland River and is known for the moonbow, a rainbow of moonlight that appears in the mist on clear full-moon nights. Industrialist Thomas du Pont tried to buy the falls in 1927 to keep them from being dammed, his widow bought about 593 acres in 1930 and donated them to Kentucky, and the state dedicated the park on August 21, 1931. The park's ghost story is of a bride in a long white gown, said to have died in the late 1940s or 1950s on her honeymoon when a railing gave way as she posed for a photograph at Lover's Leap, a fall of some 75 to 80 feet. Visitors describe her walking the paths near the overlook and DuPont Lodge, a woman who runs in front of cars on the road before the overlook and vanishes, and, on moonbow nights, a figure in white who falls and rises from the water. Kentucky Tourism retells the story, but researchers have found no newspaper report, inquest or death certificate for the bride, while real accidents at the overlook are documented, so it is best read as folklore tied to a romantic place name. Please stay behind the railings and stay on the trails, which are dangerous near the cliffs and river.