The Clear Fork rises on the Cumberland Plateau in southern Fentress County, Tennessee.

The North Prong drains an area adjacent to and east of U.S. Highway 127.

The former English settlement of Rugby, Tennessee, promoted in the late 19th century as a settlement for the "second sons" of English nobility who did not receive hereditary peerages, is located on the Plateau above the Clear Fork valley; swimming in its pools provided the "Rugby Colony" with an important recreational diversion.

The stream crosses into Scott County through an oil field developed by the petroleum industry and reaches its confluence with the New River.

From this point the combined stream is known as the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River; the upper reaches of the stream are the focal point of a National Recreation Area.