| French Broad River | |
|---|---|
 French Broad River inHenderson County, North Carolina | |
 French Broad River watershed | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | North Carolina,Tennessee |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | North Fork French Broad River |
| • location | Transylvania County,North Carolina |
| • coordinates | 35°15′57″N82°53′20″W / 35.26583°N 82.88889°W /35.26583; -82.88889[1][2] |
| • elevation | 3,189 ft (972 m) |
| 2nd source | West Fork French Broad River |
| • location | Transylvania County,North Carolina |
| • coordinates | 35°11′09″N82°59′01″W / 35.18583°N 82.98361°W /35.18583; -82.98361[3] |
| • elevation | 3,440 ft (1,050 m) |
| Source confluence | |
| • location | Rosman,North Carolina |
| • coordinates | 35°08′33″N82°50′19″W / 35.14250°N 82.83861°W /35.14250; -82.83861[4][5] |
| • elevation | 2,195 ft (669 m) |
| Mouth | Tennessee River |
• location | Knoxville,Tennessee |
• coordinates | 35°57′33″N83°51′0″W / 35.95917°N 83.85000°W /35.95917; -83.85000[5] |
• elevation | 814 ft (248 m)[5] |
| Length | 219 mi (352 km)[4] |
| Basin size | 5,124 sq mi (13,270 km2)[6] |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Riverdale, Tennessee, 7.5 miles (12.1 km) above the mouth(mean for water years 1945–1983)[7] |
| • average | 7,878 cu ft/s (223.1 m3/s)(mean for water years 1945–1983)[7] |
| • minimum | 67 cu ft/s (1.9 m3/s)October 1953[7] |
| • maximum | 160,000 cu ft/s (4,500 m3/s)July 1867[7] |
| Basin features | |
| Progression | French Broad →Tennessee →Ohio →Mississippi |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Pigeon River,Little Pigeon River |
| • right | Swannanoa River,Nolichucky River |
TheFrench Broad River is ariver in the U.S. states ofNorth Carolina andTennessee. It flows 218 miles (351 km)[4] from near the town ofRosman inTransylvania County, North Carolina, into Tennessee, where itsconfluence with theHolston River atKnoxville forms the beginning of theTennessee River. The river flows through the counties ofTransylvania,Henderson,Buncombe, andMadison in North Carolina, andCocke,Jefferson,Sevier, andKnox in Tennessee. It drains large portions of thePisgah National Forest and theCherokee National Forest.
Theheadwaters of the French Broad River are near the town ofRosman inTransylvania County, North Carolina, just northwest of theEastern Continental Divide near the northwest border ofSouth Carolina. They spill from a 50-foot (15 m) waterfall calledCourthouse Falls at the terminus ofCourthouse Creek nearBalsam Grove. The waterfall feeds into a creek that becomes the North Fork, which joins the West Fork west of Rosman. South of Rosman, the stream is joined by the Middle and East forks to form the French Broad River.
From there it flows northeast through theAppalachian Mountains intoHenderson, andBuncombe counties. In Buncombe County, the river flows throughAsheville where it receives the water of theSwannanoa River. Downstream of Asheville, the river passes north throughMarshall andMadison County. After passing throughHot Springs in theBald Mountains, the river entersCocke County, Tennessee.
In Cocke County, the river passes throughDel Rio and receives the waters of both thePigeon and theNolichucky rivers northwest ofNewport. The river enters the slack waters ofDouglas Lake, which was created by theTennessee Valley Authority'sDouglas Dam inSevier County, approximately 32 miles (51 km) upstream from the river's mouth. NearSevierville, atKodak, the French Broad River receives the flow of theLittle Pigeon River, which drains much of the Tennessee section of theGreat Smoky Mountains. After flowing through a widegap inBays Mountain, it entersKnox County. Its confluence with theHolston River forms theTennessee River at a place known as "Forks of the River", at the eastern edge ofKnoxville.
The French Broad River is believed to be one of the oldest in the world, cutting over eons through ancient rocks in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.[8] The French Broad predates theAlleghanian orogeny, through the resulting mountains it cuts; however, the current topographic relief of the Southern Appalachians is relatively new, making it virtually impossible to estimate the age of the river.[9]
TheCherokee people, the historicIndigenous Americans who occupied the area at the time of European colonization, referred to the river by different names:Poelico andAgiqua ("broad") in the mountains of the headwaters;Zillicoah upriver of the confluence at present-day Asheville; andTahkeeosteh (racing waters) from Asheville downriver.[10] The river is considered to roughly mark the eastern boundary of the Cherokee homelands in this region, which included areas of present-day northwestern South Carolina, northeastern Georgia, and southeastern Tennessee. The French called the river theAgiqua, borrowing one of the Cherokee names.[citation needed]
Initiated as a project during the administration of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, Douglas Dam was completed in the 1940s on the lower French Broad by the TVA to provide electricity and flood control. It is one of the larger TVA developments on a tributary of the Tennessee River. (The two other very large ones areNorris Lake on theClinch River andCherokee Lake on the Holston River.)
In 1987, theNorth Carolina General Assembly established the French Broad River State Trail as ablueway which follows the river for 117 miles (188 km).[11] The paddle trail is a part of the North Carolina State Trails System, which is a section of theNC Division of Parks and Recreation. A system of launch point sites was created along the river to support the trail.
The portion of the French Broad River in Tennessee was designated as a state scenic river by the Tennessee Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. Approximately 33 miles (53 km) of the river in Cocke County, starting at the North Carolina border and extending downstream to the place where it flows into Douglas Lake, are designated as a Class III, Partially Developed River.
The following is a list of crossings of the French Broad from Brevard to the confluence with the Tennessee River.
Media related toFrench Broad River at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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| National | |
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