Western Waterlands

Kentucky's Western Waterlands region is at the western edge of the state, and is home to popular outdoor recreation areas around Kentucky Lake, Lake Barkley and Land Between the Lakes.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Paducah and Hopkinsville.

Paducah

Photo: Westkentuckygenealogy, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Paducah is a small city on the Ohio River about midway between St. Louis, Missouri and Nashville, Tennessee. The county seat of McCracken County and the largest city in the Jackson Purchase area of western Kentucky, Paducah has a booming riverfront restaurant…

Hopkinsville

Photo: Bedford, Public domain.

Hopkinsville, often nicknamed "Hoptown" by locals, is a town located in Kentucky's Western Waterlands.

Murray

Photo: Thelatchkeykid, Public domain.

Murray is the county seat of Calloway County, is on highway U.S. 641 in Kentucky's Western Waterlands, just a few miles from the Kentucky-Tennessee state line. It is best known as the home of Murray State University, a well-regarded public liberal arts school.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as Benton and Princeton.

Benton

Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain.

Benton is a city in the Kentucky Lake region in Kentucky's Western Waterlands. Unless noted, the area code for all listings is 270.

Princeton

Photo: Dlove4000, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Princeton is a home rule-class city in Caldwell County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. As of the 2020 census, Princeton had a population of 6,270.

Calvert City

Photo: Heen, CC BY 3.0.

Calvert City is a city in the Kentucky Lake region in Kentucky's Western Waterlands.

Grand Rivers

Photo: Plazak, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Grand Rivers is a home rule-class city in Livingston County, Kentucky, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, Grand Rivers had a population of 345. It is part of the Paducah, KY-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area

Photo: andy emcee, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is a United States national recreation area in Kentucky and Tennessee. Land Between the Lakes offers all the outdoor recreation "basics" with opportunities for environmental and historic interpretation.

Gilbertsville

Gilbertsville is a town in Kentucky's Western Waterlands region on the shore of Kentucky Lake and near the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.

Kentucky Lake

Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain.

Kentucky Lake is a major navigable reservoir along the Tennessee River in Kentucky and Tennessee. It was created in 1944 by the Tennessee Valley Authority's impounding of the Tennessee River via Kentucky Dam for flood control and hydroelectric power.

Aurora

Aurora is a town in the Jackson Purchase region of Kentucky, which in turn is part of the tourism region known as the Western Waterlands. The town lies on the western shore of Kentucky Lake, the largest man-made lake in the United States east of the Mississippi River as measured by surface area.