Lake Cumberland, First Time, need some info
 

Thinking about going to Lake Cumberland for a week this summer. I have never been there and don't know much about it. I am usually boating on LOTO or the rivers around St. Louis. I just like to try different places. A few questions:
Where to stay? I am looking for a hotel, condo, or cabin for a reasonable price. I don't want a dive and I don't need a five star resort, but I don't mind an older place as long as it's clean.
What part of the lake? Is there a more popular part of the lake? Are there resturants by water? Anywhere to stay where you can drive into town and do stuff at night or on rainy days? Are there parts of the lake where you won't see hardly anyone during the week? (Good for skiing)
Would you rent a slip or pull the boat out at night? Do any resorts have docks or do you need to go to a marina?

I know it's a bunch of questions, but any advise will help.

We've only been once (poker run), but plan to go back twice this season. We stayed at State Dock, and it was plenty nice and adequate for our long weekend. Staying for a week? I think it would be fine for us.

Docks are plentiful - except during poker run. Ramp is a 10 min boat ride from the dock.

State Dock Marina appeared to be well stocked and friendly.

Not sure about nightlife - we never ventured from lodge room / marina / lake.

Personally, if I were going to stay for a week there, I would dock the boat at state dock and stay there at the lodge. It's in a state park and the accommodations are good and so is the food. Cumberland isn't quite like loto. I've never been to the Ozarks, but read enough to know. Most if not all of the counties around the lake are dry...so bring all your booze with you. There are a few restaurants, but they are at marinas, or at the lodge at state dock..I don't know about nightlife, whenever I'm there the party is at the dock, so we never leave the lake. There are plenty of coves and out fo the way places to go and you can always find good water skiing water...there is a ramp at the state park that is very close to the dock (state dock or Jamestown) or you can launch at wolf creek dam. From the dam, it's about a 10 min run to state dock/Jamestown marinas, or about 5 mins to grider hill marina. State dock is close to Harmon creek (party cove) and grider is closer to 76 falls. This info is just the west end of the lake, I don't really frequent the east end.
Hope this helps a little

We made two trips to Cumberland last summer. The first trip we spent a week camping and exploring, second trip was for the poker run. Originally planed to camp at Grider Hill, but we arrived late at night and the assigned camp site was to small with no where to park the truck and boat. So we opted for a move up to Burnside State Park at the far end of the lake. Great park, has a nice marina, but it's a long haul down to state dock and other attractions from there.

As listed above, State Dock has about everything ya need for a comfortable stay. But shop around, I hear you can score a good deal on house boats during certain periods from the smaller marinas. You can also find deals on private cabins around the lake online, but few have docks that I found. Also take a look at Dale Hollow Lake, which is just to the south of Cumberland about 30 minutes. On advice of a friend we decided to go check it out for a couple days, and IMO it's 3 times better than Cumberland. Almost as big, and there is hundreds of nice beaches you can pull up on. Cumberland has zero spots to get off a boat without a dock or getting wet... Plus you can buy beer on half of Dale Hollow, as where Cumberland is BYOB from one state away....

PS, for skiing it seemed like DH was much more popular. Saw plenty of new wake boats cruising that one.

We are heading down next Thursday (May 21). I got us a cabin at lake Cumberland report for memorial day weekend. I'll let you know how it is when we get back.

We had a blast, can't wait to go back down. Might be lame to some, but we really enjoyed the South Fork. Lots of coves to anchor and relax in.