The river has been dammed numerous times, mainly by projects of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The location of the Kentucky Dam of the TVA on the Tennessee River and the Corps' Barkley Dam on the Cumberland River led directly to the creation of the National Recreation Area Land Between the Lakes (Land Between the Lakes)
The first dam on the river is Fort Loudoun Lake a reservoir in eastern Tennessee, on top of the Tennessee River, which extends for 50 miles (80 km) along the river upstream of Fort Loudoun Dam , in Lenoir City, up to Knoxville, then Watts Bar Dam in Meigs and Rhea counties in Tennessee, and the last one is the Kentucky Dam.