The French Broad River flows from near the town of Rosman in Transylvania County, North Carolina, into the state of Tennessee. Its confluence with the Holston River at Knoxville is the beginning of the Tennessee River. The river flows through the counties of Transylvania, Buncombe, Henderson, and Madison in North Carolina, and Cocke, Jefferson, Sevier, and Knox in Tennessee, and drains large portions of the Pisgah National Forest and the Cherokee National Forest.CourseThe French Broad River begins just west of the Eastern Continental Divide. From there it flows northeasterly through the Appalachian Mountains. The river follows a general northeasterly direction through Transylvania, Henderson, and Buncombe counties. In Buncombe County, the river flows through the city of Asheville, where it receives the water of the Swannanoa River. Downstream of Asheville, the river proceeds north through Madison County, where it flows through its county seat, Marshall. After passing through the mountain resort of Hot Springs in the Bald Mountains, the river enters Cocke County, Tennessee.
