Cumberland Gap

Friday Travel day.  A bit of a busy day, we made several stops along the way here from Roan Mountain picking up supplies.  I was hopeful there would be a few good opportunities for pictures along the way, The view of some of the mountains was awesome but every time a good view came up, there wasn't anywhere to pull off and get it.  When a good spot to pull off appeared, there wasn't a view.  I'm thinking the Tennessee Highway department has already figured this out. Hmmm.

We traveled North to the Cumberland Gap. A truly historic place in this beautiful country as one of the few places permitting the frontier west. It's hard to imagine anyone getting beyond the Cumberland Ridge with anything other than a horse.

The Cumberland Gap is the only pass in the continuous Cumberland Mountain ridgeline.  It lies on the border of Kentucky and Virginia near the tri-state border with Tennessee.  The gap serves as a gateway to the west. The base of the gap is about 300 feet above the valley floor, even though the north side of the pass was lowered 20 feet during the construction of Old US 25E.  To the south, the ridge rises up 600 feet above the pass, while the north Pinnacle Overlook towers 900 feet above at an elevation of 2,505 feet.

Long used by Native American nations, the Cumberland Gap was brought to the attention of settlers in 1750 by Thomas Walker, a Virginia physician and explorer. The path was used 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. An important part of the Wilderness Road, it is now part of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.