Lake Barkley

Lake Barkley is a reservoir in Kentucky that stretches across several counties and touches part of Tennessee, with roughly 1,000 miles of shoreline. The water extends from the dam in the north down to the Tennessee border in the south, offering coves, wooded banks, and shallow sections for boats and anglers.

The Corps of Engineers built the dam in the early 1960s to control flooding and generate hydropower, with filling beginning in the mid-1960s. The reservoir bears the name of Alben Barkley, a Kentucky senator and vice president who championed such infrastructure projects.

The reservoir's creation erased several small towns and forced hundreds of families to move, with homes, churches, and cemeteries relocated before the flooding began. The old roads and foundations remain submerged, drawing divers who search for traces of the vanished communities.

Water levels shift throughout the year depending on rainfall and management, with higher levels in spring than in fall. Anglers and boaters should check current conditions before heading out, as some coves become shallow when the water drops.

A narrow canal links the reservoir to neighboring Kentucky Lake, creating the longest artificial waterway of its kind in the eastern United States. Boats can traverse both bodies of water, using a system that extends far beyond the original river boundaries.

Location: Kentucky

Inception: January 1, 1966

GPS coordinates: 37.02083,-88.22278

Latest update: December 22, 2025 14:06