Cumberland Gap | Map, History, & Facts | Britannica (original) (raw)
Cumberland Gap, natural pass (elevation 1,640 feet [500 metres]) that was cut through the Cumberland Plateau in the eastern United States by former stream activity. It is located near the point where Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee meet between Middlesboro, Kentucky, and the town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. The pass was discovered in 1750 by Thomas Walker, and the Wilderness Road blazed by Daniel Boone runs through it. Named for the duke of Cumberland, son of George II, it became the main artery of trans-Allegheny migration that opened the Northwest Territory for settlement and permitted the extension of the western boundary of the 13 colonies to the Mississippi River. During the American Civil War the strategic gap was held alternately by Confederate and Union troops.
In 1940, 32 square miles (83 square km) of the plateau, with the gap as the central feature, were authorized to be set aside as the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.