A peninsula located at the mouth of the Clinch River, later called Southwest Point, was important to generations of Native Americans.

The Cherokee and European settlers signed a treaty at Southwest Point to allow the capital of Tennessee to be moved there.

The Tennessee General Assembly fulfilled this requirement technically by meeting in Kingston for one day and then voting to move the capital city elsewhere.

[1] Folk etymology, however, provides a more colorful account: the river received its name after a pioneer fell into it, and shouted "Clinch me!

The word "Pellissippi" was long said to have been the Cherokee language name for the river and was purported to mean "winding waters".

A power plant is located along the Clinch River at Carbo in Russell County, Virginia.

Before being dammed, the Clinch River was a major producer of freshwater mussels and pearls.

[14] The release of coal ash in rivers has been shown to result in increased sedimentation and the exposure of trace elements to aquatic organisms.

[15] A study done several months after the spill revealed that the river had increased amounts of trace metals such as mercury and arsenic, which are dangerous throughout the food chain.

[16] A study done a year after the spill showed that there was a possibility of food web accumulation of methylmercury, but this had not yet been shown.