Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area preserves a rugged section of the Cumberland Plateau in northeastern Tennessee and southeastern Kentucky along the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River. The area is known for its deep gorges, sandstone bluffs, waterfalls, ravines, cliff-lined valleys, natural bridges, and hoodoos, all shaped by long erosion of the plateau’s layered rock. It also retains evidence of human history, including the former settlement of No Business, first settled in 1796 and abandoned by late 1960, and the preserved mining community of Blue Heron. The area remains significant for combining notable geology, traces of frontier and industrial pasts, and remote recreation.