Cumberland Gap

The Cumberland Gap is a narrow pass through the long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, within the Appalachian Mountains, near the junction of the U.S. states of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee.Famous in American colonial history for its role as a key passageway through the lower central Appalachians, it was an important part of the Wilderness Road and is now part of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.Long used by Native Americans, the Cumberland Gap was brought to the attention of settlers in 1750 by Dr. Thomas Walker, a Virginia physician and explorer. The path was explored by a team of frontiersmen led by Daniel Boone, making it accessible to pioneers who used it to journey into the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee.GeographyThe Cumberland Gap is one of many passes in the Appalachian Mountains but the only one in the continuous Cumberland Mountain ridge line. It lies within Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and is located on the border of present-day Kentucky and Virginia, approximately northeast of the tri-state marker with Tennessee.