Big Reedy is part of the Bowling Green Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The Big Reedy community is named for Big Reedy Creek, a tributary of the Green River which drains the watershed along the Edmonson County side of the current Butler and Edmonson County lines; the adjacent Little Reedy Creek drains a similar area of Butler County.

John May and company recorded surveying 14,200 acres (57 km2) on Big Reedy Creek on November 14, 1783.

Many of the settlers were Revolutionary War and War of 1812 veterans, with a preponderance of settlers coming originally from Virginia, though many lived for several years in eastern Kentucky before crossing to Big Reedy.

Current community activities are centered on three churches (Big Reedy Church of Christ[3] and Mount Pleasant Cumberland Presbyterian[4]), some small shops and one restaurant in Big Reedy and the nearby community of Roundhill on the county line.