Old Kuttawa
October 2026
About
Overview
Old Kuttawa Recreation Area is on the northern shores of Lake Barkley, near the narrow canal linking it to Kentucky Lake. Together, these two reservoirs combine to create one of the greatest freshwater recreation areas in the country.
Take pleasure in a day of picnicking or soak up the sun at the swimming beach, either way Old Kuttawa provides an ideal setting to enjoy nature at its best.
Recreation
The half-mile Anderson Woodland Trail is an enjoyable footpath for birding and viewing the great tall trees of the region. Other activities include swimming, fishing and boating.
Facilities
Two large picnic pavilions, an ampitheater, a playground, restrooms and paved parking are available. Plenty of picnic tables and grills are scattered around the recreation area, with ample shade for sunny summer days. **In order to reserve the ampitheater, you must reserve site 1 (large shelter).
Natural Features
Lake Barkley spans 57,900 acres with 1,004 miles of shoreline and offers warm water temperatures during summer months that make for comfortable recreation.
Running parallel to Barkley Lake is its neighbor, Kentucky Lake, with the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area nestled between.
Nearby Attractions
See the astonishing Floodwall Murals in the town of Paducah. It is a gallery that captures Paduca's rich history.
Amenities
Is OLD KUTTAWA fully booked?
A campground showing no availability is almost never full for good. People cancel — plans change, weather turns, someone books three weekends and keeps one — and the site goes straight back into the booking system, usually without warning and often at odd hours. The reason sold-out campgrounds feel impossible is not that sites never free up; it is that nobody is watching at the moment they do.
CampHawk watches OLD KUTTAWA in Kuttawa, KY for you. We recheck it every 15 seconds, around the clock, and the moment a site opens we send a text, an email and a push notification — and on Recreation.gov we can put the site straight into your cart, so it is held while you get to your phone.
Searching is free and needs no account — the calendar above is live right now. Watching OLD KUTTAWA for cancellations is the paid part.