It was designated as a national recreation area in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy and developed using funds appropriated during the Johnson administration.

[citation needed] During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Tennessee Valley Authority as part of his New Deal.

Specifically, the Authority was to construct a series of dams for both flood control and generation of electricity throughout the rural Tennessee Valley.

[5] Because the project would result in flooding of some of the low-lying land on the western side of the area, the TVA exercised eminent domain, condemning some of the properties and forcing the removal of approximately 800 families from their homes.

[citation needed] The United States Army Corps of Engineers constructed a dam on the Cumberland, producing another lake.

[citation needed] This project was intended to lessen the shipping distances for goods going from the Cumberland Valley to ports on the Gulf of Mexico, thus increasing their profitability.

[citation needed] This project required the abandonment of the communities of Tharpe and Model in Tennessee, and Golden Pond, Kentucky.

[10] The former site of Golden Pond is now occupied by the headquarters of the recreation area and retains the postal address for it.

In preparation, the TVA conducted prescribed burns to encourage the expansion of the remnant patches of native prairie, which had been crowded out by the growth of oak and hickory forests over the previous 150 years, when grazing animals were not held here.

[citation needed] In 1998, the US Congress authorized transfer of operation of the area to the U.S. Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture.

[18] Land Between the Lakes offers a range of outdoor activities, including hiking, mountain biking, boating, fishing, camping, and hunting.

[20][21] Common species of fish in Land Between the Lakes include bass, crappie, sauger, catfish, sunfish and bluegill.