Great River Road - Kentucky
Great River Road - Kentucky is a National Scenic Byway in Kentucky. Within Kentucky it covers roughly 65 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Great River Road - Kentucky with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
The Great River Road in Kentucky is a 60-mile National Scenic Byway tracing the state's far-western edge along the Mississippi River. Part of a ten-state National Scenic Byway network that runs the length of the Mississippi from Minnesota to the Gulf, Kentucky's short stretch passes rolling farmland planted in corn, soybeans, and wheat, with deer and wild turkeys common along the roadside. Columbus-Belmont State Park is the standout stop, perched on bluffs above the river with Civil War earthworks, a museum, and the massive chain and anchor once used to try to block Union gunboats from passing. Farther along, Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site preserves ancient Native American earthworks with its own elevated river view, and the route offers access to Reelfoot National Wildlife Refuge near the Tennessee line. It's a quiet, lightly trafficked alternative for travelers following the Mississippi corridor south.
- ~60 miles along the Mississippi River
- part of the 10-state Great River Road network
- Columbus-Belmont State Park Civil War site
- Wickliffe Mounds archaeological site
- corn, soybean & wheat farmland
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What is a National Scenic Byway?
National Scenic Byways are roads recognized at the federal level for at least one outstanding quality — scenic, natural, historic, cultural, archaeological or recreational — that gives travelers a reason to seek them out rather than just pass through.