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Most of us have ancestors who were early pioneers in Tennessee and
kentucky. I seldom stop to think how difficult it must have been for the=
m
to leave behind every thing they knew, and risk their very lives to blaze=
the trail westward.
The attached article is in the February 1999 issue of Historic traveler
Magazine. I thought some of you might enjoy it.
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Cumberland Gap: Where 3 States Meet History
By Don Schaub
In Historic Traveler, Feb 1999
=93The procession of civilization, marching single file.=94 Though it was=
n=92t exactly an =
expressway, Cumberland Gap gained renown as the highway into Kentucky and=
=
to the west.
In the spring of 1775, Daniel Boone and 30 woodsmen spent less than a mon=
th =
marking a 200-mile trail that passed through the Appalachian Mountains at=
=
Cumberland Gap on its way from Virginia to Kentucky=92s Bluegrass Region.=
More =
than two centuries later, workers constructed twin mile-long tunnels bene=
ath the =
rock of this historic pass. The tunnels opened in October 1996 and cost $=
250 =
million. Boone, historians believe, never got paid for his roadwork.
During the years between Boone=92s trail marking and the tunnels, history=
has left =
deep tracks at Cumberland Gap. In the late 1700=92s, 200,000 pioneers pas=
sed =
through this gateway as they helped move the American frontier west. Civi=
l War =
activity and a brief industrial boom in he late 1800=92s added to the lon=
g line of the =
famous and ordinary who journeyed through the pass. Union General, Ulysse=
s S. =
Grant and legendary frontier hero George Rogers Clark traveled the gap. S=
o did =
Abraham Lincoln=92s parents and grandparents as they emigrated west.
Today, visitors to this scenic region, a corner of southern Appalachia 80=
miles =
northeast of Knoxville, Tennessee, can retrace the footsteps of those ear=
lier =
frontiersmen, settlers and soldiers while exploring and visiting the quie=
t town that =
shares the gap=92s name. Drive the four-mile Pinnacle Road from the visit=
or center =
to the mountaintop overlook and you=92ll get a magnificent view of three =
states-
Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee-and the town of Cumberland Gap, 1,200 fe=
et =
directly below. Artwork near the overlook parking area bears a quotation =
from =
nineteenth-century historian Frederick Jackson Turner, who called the gap=
a =
place to stand and =93watch the procession of civilization, marching sing=
le file=85=94
That procession began with the Indians who followed an ancient buffalo tr=
ace =
through the pass. In the mid-1600=92s, white hunters started carrying new=
s home to =
eastern settlements about a notch through the mountain that defined the f=
rontier.
The earliest written record of the gap is credited to Dr. Thomas Walker, =
a Virginia =
physician-turned-explorer who traveled through the region in 1750 and not=
ed =
=93Cave Gap,=94 named after a nearby cavern. Walker also named the river =
north of =
the pass =93Cumberland=94 in honor of the Duke of Cumberland, son of Brit=
ain=92s King =
George II. The duke was popular because of his victory over the Scots at =
Culloden. Eventually the name was transferred to the pass as well. =
Twenty five years after Walker passed through, Richard Henderson, a land =
speculator and former North Carolina judge, sent Boone and his woodsmen t=
o =
mark a trail through the gap for eastern settlers bound for Kentucky. Boo=
ne was =
already familiar with the area, having passed through the gap on hunting =
expeditions to Kentucky. He was also aware of the area=92s dangers, espec=
ially =
from Indians who wanted to keep whites away form their lands. On two =
occasions Boone encountered Indians who took all the skins he had collect=
ed. In =
1770, Boone=92s friend and brother-in-law John Stewart disappeared while =
he and =
Boone were on an expedition into Kentucky. For five years Stewart=92s fat=
e =
remained a mystery, until a worker on Boone=92s Wilderness Road expeditio=
n =
found a skeleton with a powder horn bearing Stewart=92s initials. Boone s=
uffered =
another personal loss in 1773 when he attempted to establish a settlement=
in =
Kentucky. Indians attacked part of the expedition near the gap and killed=
several =
people, including Boone=92s son James.
Boone=92s trail marking wasn=92t his first association with Henderson. Th=
e land =
speculator had once sued the frontiersman for unpaid debts and had sworn =
out a =
warrant for his arrest. Apparently, it had all been smoothed over by the =
time he =
hired Boone. Henderson had negotiated 20 million acres of Kentucky and =
Tennessee land away form the Cherokee Indians as part of a plan to establ=
ish =
his own colony of Transylvania, with its capitol at the newly formed sett=
lement of =
Boonesborough. His plan eventually failed, mainly because the legislature=
s of =
Virginia and North Carolina protested that the land belonged to them.
When Henderson=92s scheme collapsed, Boone=92s promised compensation =
disappeared with it. His work on the old Indian path, however, firmly est=
ablished =
the route that would become known as the Wilderness Road-the =93interstat=
e=94 of its =
day, moving people from eastern Pennsylvania, Virginia and the Carolinas =
westward through the gap to Kentucky and beyond.
With the trail wide enough only for packhorses, the journey through the =
Cumberland Gap was difficult and dangerous. During the summer and fall of=
=
1784, renegade Cherokees killed more than 100 travelers on the Kentucky s=
ide =
of the gap, so early settlers learned to travel in large groups for safet=
y. One of the =
largest groups, numbering about 500 and including the entire Upper Spotsy=
lvania =
Baptist Churh congregation from near Fredericksburg, Virginia, passed thr=
ough =
the gap in the winter of 1781. Like others, they had to abandon their wag=
ons, =
loaded with household possessions, and walk the mountain trail with only =
what =
they could carry or load on horses. The three-mile-long caravan finally c=
rossed =
the gap in December, taking three weeks to cover a mere 30 miles through =
mud, =
snow and flooded streams. Not until 1796 was the Wilderness road widened =
enough for wagons, and by the early 1800=92s Kentuckians were driving lon=
g lines =
of horses and cattle through the gap to markets in the east.
Visitors today can get a taste of what the Wilderness Road was like by wa=
lking =
nearly a mile of the original-a steep, wooded trail that begins one block=
form the =
main intersection in the town of Cumberland Gap and continues up the gap =
itself.
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