French Broad River, NC

The French Broad River flows from near the village of Rosman, NC, in Transylvania County, North Carolina, into the State of Tennessee. Its confluence with the Holston River at Knoxville, Tennessee, is the geographically-arbitrary beginning of the river named the Tennessee River.

The French Broad River begins just west of the Eastern Continental Divide, and from there, it flows northwesterly through the Appalachian Mountains. This river follows a general northwesterly direction as it flows through Transylvania County, Henderson County, and Buncombe County. In Buncombe County, the river flows through the city of Asheville, where receives the water of the Swannanoa River. Downstream of Asheville, the river proceeds north through Madison County, where it flows through its county seat of Marshall. Next, the French Broad River flows into the State of Tennessee.

In Cocke County, Tennessee, the French Broad River receives the waters of both the Pigeon River and the Nolichucky River, after which the French Broad River is impounded behind Douglas Dam, forming a reservoir called the Douglas Lake. In Sevier County, Tennessee, the French Broad River receives the flow of the Little Pigeon River, and then it flows through a wide gap in Bays Mountain before reaching the plainland of Tennessee and joining with the Holston River at Knoxville.

The portion of the French Broad River in Tennessee was designated a state scenic river by the Tennessee Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. Approximately 33 miles of this river in Cocke County, starting at the North Carolina border and extending downstream to the place where it flows into the Douglas Lake], are designated as a Class III, Partially Developed River.