Seventy Six Falls is a 45-foot curtain waterfall in Clinton County, Kentucky, where Indian Creek pours over a cliff straight into the Indian Creek arm of Lake Cumberland. The lake cut the drop roughly in half, and the falls are now a stop for boaters as well as a roadside park about 6.1 miles from Albany.
The falls
The creek falls in a single vertical curtain. Before Wolf Creek Dam created Lake Cumberland, the drop was about 84 feet; today much of it is under water, and how much shows depends on the lake level. Lidar data indicates a 45-foot drop at full pool, while other accounts record 38 feet at normal pool and older surveys listed 40 feet.
Getting there
The site is at 1749 Seventy Six Falls Road, Albany, in a park maintained by the US Army Corps of Engineers, which manages Lake Cumberland. The recreation site provides parking, walking paths, bridges and a picnic area with views of the falls. Driving from downtown Monticello takes about 30 to 40 minutes, along the KY 90 side of the lake. The falls can also be reached by boat.
When to go
The visible height changes with the reservoir: the higher the lake, the shorter the drop above the water.
On site
The picnic area looks at the falls from above. There is no shoreline wading area; people swim only from boats in the deep water below, and jumping or scrambling at the top is not allowed. Memorials at the site mark past deaths, so stay back from the edge. Boaters should approach slowly and anchor well clear of the falling water.
History and name
The name's origin is uncertain. Settlers established the nearby community of Seventy Six around 1806, and Charles D. Semple renamed it Seventy Six in 1834. Other local theories link the name to a survey marker or the year 1776, while an explanation based on height does not match the original 84-foot drop. Several mills once stood on Indian Creek above the falls.
Nearby
Upper Seventy Six Falls is about 0.1 mile away on Indian Creek. Jock Falls is about 13.5 miles away, and Wright Branch Falls about 15.8 miles, across the line in Tennessee.
Distances are straight-line.