Day trips from Nashville · Waterfall
Cummins Falls
80 miles from downtown Nashville · about 1 hour 30 minutes
Cummins Falls State Park, Jackson County, near Cookeville, TN
Cummins Falls is a wide, terraced waterfall on the Blackburn Fork State Scenic River, inside a 306-acre state park about eighty miles east of Nashville. The pool at its base is the reason people come, and reaching that base is the part almost everybody gets wrong.
- Height
- About 75 feet
- Gorge trail
- 1.5 miles, strenuous
- Overlook trail
- 0.45 miles, moderate, no permit
- Park size
- 306 acres
Permits, fees and access
You need a Gorge Access Permit to go down to the base of the falls, and you cannot buy one at the gate. Permits are sold online only through the state park reservation system, they are capped at a small number per day, and they book out. Reported pricing runs around six to seven dollars per person and booking windows have changed more than once, so check the current terms on the state’s own reservation page before you drive. You also have to watch a safety video before entering the gorge. The overlook trail is shorter, easier, and needs no permit at all, so a visit is still worth making if permits are gone. Rangers close gorge access without warning when the water comes up, and there are no refunds when they do.
Swimming
Permitted at the base with a permit. Children twelve and under must wear a Coast Guard approved life vest in the water, water shoes are effectively required because the rock is slick, and the gorge is not recommended for children five and under.
One thing to know first
People have died in flash floods here. The water can rise several feet in minutes even when it is not raining at the park, because the rain that matters fell upstream. If a ranger closes the gorge, that is the reason. Take it seriously and take the overlook instead.
Access rules, fees and closures verified August 15, 2026 against the agency that manages this place. They change, sometimes without notice. Check before you drive.
The neighborhoods closest to it
If this is the kind of Saturday you want a short drive from your front door, these are the parts of Middle Tennessee that put you nearest to it.
I keep this list because it is genuinely how people spend weekends here, and because almost every guide to it is out of date. If you are weighing a move to Middle Tennessee and want to know which part of it puts you closest to the things you actually like, ask me. No pitch.