Hidden Corners of History The Cumberland Gap

The Cumberland Gap

Jarrod E. Stephens

The Ashland Beacon

If ever you travel across the Bluegrass State, you will quickly gain an understanding of how diverse our landscape truly is. Whether you visit the Bluegrass region, Western Coal Fields, Eastern Coal Fields, Knobs, Pennyrile or Jackson Purchase you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the natural scenery. While urban areas have sprung up over the centuries and farmland has sprawled across some areas, much of southeastern Kentucky where the first Europeans managed to come into the state still holds much of its natural beauty.

While the east coast of what would become the United States was growing exponentially, much of the land west of Virginia was an untamed wilderness. Of course, there was the occasional trapper or explorer who ventured into the wilderness, but it was mostly inhabited by natives. Natural resources were abundant, which enticed companies to want to explore and exploit the region.

In the mid-1700’s, the unsettled land that would become Kentucky was known as the home of many Native American tribes. Westward travel was hindered largely by the Appalachian Mountains which were tough to cross. However, money talks and the spirit of adventure is hard to squash.

Dr. Thomas Walker was a formally educated man who had an adventurous side that would not rest. Being a skilled outdoorsman was typical for men of his day, and he was also a surveyor, statesman, and trader. The Loyal Land Company was granted nearly 800,000 acres of land in the region and Walker assembled a group to enter what would become Kentucky and survey the area. Walker left the splendor of his life to take on a mission that would change the course of history and lead to further settlement and exploration west of the Appalachian Mountains. His stepping out of civilization and into the wilderness was the equivalent of our current astronauts going to outer space. The unknown and the desire to know more helped fuel his endeavors.

As they traveled on foot and horseback, finding the most efficient route was important for the party. Walker discovered what we now know as the Cumberland Gap. Since then, we have learned that the natives and wildlife used the gap to enter the area as well. It is said that he and his expedition party followed a stream that he called Flat Creek until it converged with a river. As they camped near the river, they named the river and the gap after the Duke of Cumberland. The Duke of Cumberland was the son of the English King George II.

The importance of the gap can’t fully be appreciated until you consider that it was the only natural gateway to the west that they’d discovered at that time. After the gap and what lay beyond was discovered, the floodgates of travel opened. Pioneers and settlers began to travel the land to what lay beyond the Appalachian Mountains into Kentucky.

Perhaps the most famous name to come through the gap was Daniel Boone. He had first heard about it from an acquaintance and decided to hunt in the area. After going through the gap, he recognized its significance and how it could allow larger groups to go through. Boone was later paid to create a trail that is now called Wilderness Road. More than 200,000 settlers went through the gap as they traveled westward.

  The flow of settlers into the region led to many skirmishes with Natives who were fighting to protect their land. Settlers continued to press westward and throughout the 18^th and 19th centuries they continued to use the Cumberland Gap to enter Kentucky.

Today the Cumberland Gap is protected by the National Park Service and stands as a reminder of the struggles our ancestors faced to give us the life that we now have. What we call Kentucky today was once safely nestled behind the Appalachian Mountains, but the Cumberland Gap provided the gateway to the place we now call home.