[3] The park encompasses 1,657 acres (671 ha) and is named for its major feature, 68-foot-tall (21 m) Cumberland Falls.

Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park also received the upgraded rating.

[4] The 1955 western The Kentuckian, starring Burt Lancaster, was partly filmed at Cumberland Falls.

An establishing shot of Cumberland Falls is used in the 1997 action film Fire Down Below starring Steven Seagal.

Cumberland Falls also serves as a scene setting in Lee Cole's 2022 novel, Groundskeeping, House's 2001 novel Clay's Quilt, and Kim Trevathan's 2006 memoir, Coldhearted River.