Cumberland Gap - wikipedia Cumberland Gap This article is about a mountain pass in the United States. For other uses, see Cumberland Gap ( disambiguation ). Not to be confused with Cumberland Narrows, a water gap near Cumberland, Maryland. Cumberland Gap Cumberland Gap in winter Elevation 1,631 ft ( 497 m ) Traversed by US 25E Location Kentucky Tennessee Virginia United States Range Cumberland Mountains Coordinates 36 ° 36 ′ 14 '' N 83 ° 40 ′ 23 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 36.6039715 ° N 83.67297 ° W ﻿ / 36.6039715 ; - 83.67297 Coordinates : 36 ° 36 ′ 14 '' N 83 ° 40 ′ 23 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 36.6039715 ° N 83.67297 ° W ﻿ / 36.6039715 ; - 83.67297 Topo map USGS Middlesboro South The pass is located in the southeastern United States. 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 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. Contents 1 Geography 2 Geology 3 History 3.1 Historic district 4 Biology and ecology 4.1 Plants 4.2 Animals 5 References in popular culture 5.1 Music 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links Geography The 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 0.25 miles ( 0.40 km ) northeast of the tri-state marker with Tennessee. The area surrounding Cumberland Gap National Historical Park is composed of sedimentary rock, which is formed by the compaction of particles of gravel, sand, silt, mud, and carbonate minerals from the repetitive rise and fall of shallow seas. Rocks in this region range from Cambrian to Pennsylvanian in age. The unique landscape seen today is a result of the uplift of sedimentary rock in conjunction with several million years of weathering and erosion. These features include narrow ridges, steep cliffs, overlooks, and natural gaps like the Cumberland Gap. It is an example of a wind gap since water does not flow through it. The V - shaped gap serves as a gateway to the west. The base of the gap is about 300 feet ( 91 m ) above the valley floor below even though the north side of the pass was lowered 20 feet ( 6.1 m ) during the construction of Old U.S. Route 25E. To the south the ridge rises 600 feet ( 180 m ) above the pass, while to the north the Pinnacle Overlook towers 900 feet ( 270 m ) above ( elevation 2,505 feet ( 764 m ) ). Because it is centrally located in the United States, the region around Cumberland Gap experiences all four seasons. The summers are typically sunny, warm and humid with average high temperatures in the mid to upper 80s F ( 29 - 32C ). In the winter months, January through March, temperatures range in the 30s to 40s F ( 0s C ) and are generally mild with rain and few periods of snow. The nearest cities are Middlesboro, Kentucky, and Harrogate, Tennessee. Geology The gap was formed by the development of three major structural features : the Pine Mountain Thrust Sheet, the Middlesboro Syncline, and the Rocky Face Fault. Lateral compressive forces of sedimentary rocks from deep layers of the Earth 's crust pushing upward 320 to 200 million years ago created the thrust sheet. Resistance on the fault from the opposing Cumberland Mountain to Pine Mountain caused the U-shaped structure of the Middlesboro Syncline. The once flat - lying sedimentary rocks were now deformed roughly 40 degrees northwest. Further constriction to the northwest of Cumberland Mountain developed into a fault trending north - to - south called the Rocky Face Fault, which eventually cut through Cumberland Mountain. This combination of natural geological processes created ideal conditions for weathering and erosion of the rocks. However, the discovery of the Middlesboro impact structure has proposed new details in the formation of Cumberland Gap. Less than 300 million years ago a meteorite, `` approximately the size of a football field '', struck the earth, creating the Middlesboro Crater. One of three astroblemes in the state, it is a 3.7 - mile ( 6.0 km ) diameter meteorite impact crater with the city of Middlesboro, Kentucky, built entirely inside it. Detailed mapping by geologists in the 1960s led many to interpret the geological features of the area to be a site of an ancient impact. In 1966 Robert Dietz discovered shatter cones in nearby sandstone, proving recent speculation. Shatter cones, a rock - shattering pattern naturally formed only during impact events, are found in abundance in the area. The presence of shatter cones found also helped confirm the origin of impact. In September 2003 the site was designated a Distinguished Geologic Site by the Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists. Without the Rocky Face Fault, it would have been difficult for pack - horses to navigate this gap and the gap in Pine Mountain near Pineville, and it would be improbable that wagon roads would have been constructed at an early date. Middlesboro is the only place in the world where coal is mined inside an astrobleme. Special mining techniques must be used in the complicated strata of this crater. History Map showing Cumberland Gap in relation to the Wilderness Road route from Virginia to Kentucky The passage created by Cumberland Gap was well traveled by Native Americans long before the arrival of European - American settlers. The earliest written account of Cumberland Gap dates to the 1670s, by Abraham Wood of Virginia. Union soldiers passing through Cumberland Gap, 1863 The gap was named for Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, son of King George II of Great Britain, who had many places named for him in the American colonies after the Battle of Culloden. The explorer Thomas Walker gave the name to the Cumberland River in 1750, and the name soon spread to many other features in the region, such as the Cumberland Gap. In 1769 Joseph Martin built a fort nearby at present - day Rose Hill, Virginia, on behalf of Walker 's land claimants. But Martin and his men were chased out of the area by Native Americans, and Martin himself did not return until 1775. Old US 25E sign In 1775 Daniel Boone, hired by the Transylvania Company, arrived in the region leading a company of men to widen the path through the gap to make settlement of Kentucky and Tennessee easier. On his arrival Boone discovered that Martin had beaten him to Powell Valley, where Martin and his men were clearing land for their own settlement -- the westernmost settlement in English colonial America at the time. By the 1790s the trail that Boone and his men built had been widened to accommodate wagon traffic and sometimes became known as the Wilderness Road. Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers through the Cumberland Gap ( George Caleb Bingham, oil on canvas, 1851 -- 52 ) Several American Civil War engagements occurred in and around the Cumberland Gap and are sometimes called Battle of the Cumberland Gap. In June 1862, Union Army General George W. Morgan captured the gap for the Union. In September of that year, Confederate States Army forces under Edmund Kirby Smith occupied the gap during General Braxton Bragg 's Kentucky Invasion. The following year, in a bloodless engagement in September 1863, Union Army troops under General Ambrose Burnside forced the surrender of 2,300 Confederates defending the gap, gaining Union control of the gap for the remainder of the war. It is estimated that between 200,000 and 300,000 migrants passed through the gap on their way into Kentucky and the Ohio Valley before 1810. Today 18,000 cars pass beneath the site daily, and 1.2 million people visit the park on the site annually. The park features many hiking trails. U.S. Route 25E passed overland through the gap before the completion of the Cumberland Gap Tunnel in 1996. The original trail was then restored. Historic district The gap and associated historic resources were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district on May 28, 1980. Biology and ecology Plants Within the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park there are currently 855 known species of vascular plants identified, but that number is expected to increase with reports from National Park Service inventory and monitoring programs. There are 15 various vegetation communities throughout the park, with some of them in special locations, such as mountain bogs, low - elevation wetlands, and rocky bluffs. Animals Of the current 371 species of animals within the park, 33 are mammals, 89 are birds, 29 amphibians, 15 reptiles, 27 fish, and 187 are insects. Visitors to the park can expect to see gray squirrels, white - tailed deer, cottontail rabbits, songbirds, hawks, snakes, turtles, and perhaps black bear or bobcat. References in popular culture Music `` Cumberland Gap '' ( first recorded in 1924 ) is a popular folk song recorded and performed by American folk and bluegrass musicians such as Woody Guthrie and Earl Scruggs, and by British skiffle artists such as Lonnie Donegan and the Vipers Skiffle Group. The gap has been mentioned in many other songs, including : `` The Ballad of Thunder Road '' `` Mighty Joe Moon '', by American band Grant Lee Buffalo `` Wagon Wheel '', co-written by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor, performed by the Old Crow Medicine Show and Darius Rucker `` Cumberland Gap '', by American band Ragged Mountain String Band `` Cumberland Gap '', by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit `` Cumberland Gap '', by David Rawlings on his 2017 album Poor David 's Almanack `` One More River To Cross '', by Bob Weir on his 2016 album Blue Mountain See also Moccasin Gap Pound Gap List of mountain passes in the Appalachian Mountains References Jump up ^ `` Cumberland Gap ''. Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved July 22, 2014. ^ Jump up to : Crawford, Matthew ; Hunsberger, Hanna ( 2011 ). `` Geology of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park '' ( PDF ). Kentucky Geological Survey. University of Kentucky, Lexington. Retrieved 30 July 2014. ^ Jump up to : Luckett, William ( December 1964 ). `` Cumberland Gap National Historical Park ''. Tennessee Historical Quarterly. Tennessee Historical Society. 23 ( 4 ). Retrieved 29 July 2014. Jump up ^ `` Encyclopedic Entry : Gap ''. National Geographic Education. National Geographic Society. Retrieved July 31, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Profile for Cumberland Gap National Historical Park ''. weather.com. The Weather Channel. Retrieved 29 July 2014. ^ Jump up to : Kortenkamp, Steve ( Summer 2004 ). `` Impact at Cumberland Gap : Where Natural and National History Collide '' ( PDF ). PSI Newsletter. Planetary Science Institute. 5 ( 2 ) : 1 -- 2. Jump up ^ `` About Us ''. City of Middlesboro Kentucky. City of Middlesboro, KY. Archived from the original on August 26, 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2014. Jump up ^ Milam & Kuehn, 36 Jump up ^ Todd M. Ahlman ; Gail L. Guymon ; Nicholas P. Herrmann ( July 2005 ). Archaeological Overview and Assessment of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia ( PDF ). The Archaeological Research Laboratory, University of Tennessee. Jump up ^ `` VA - K1 Cumberland Gap ''. Historical markers. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2012. Jump up ^ Shattuck, Tom N. ( 1999 ). A Cumberland Gap Area Guidebook. The Wilderness Road Company. p. 39. ISBN 978 - 0 - 9677765 - 3 - 8. Jump up ^ Morgan, Robert. Boone : A Biography. Chapel Hill : Algonquin Books. ISBN 978 - 1 - 56512 - 455 - 4. Jump up ^ `` Cumberland Gap ''. Jump up ^ Longfellow, Rickie ( 17 October 2013 ). `` Back In Time - The Cumberland Gap ''. Federal Highway Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation. Retrieved 22 July 2014. Jump up ^ National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form : Cumberland Gap Historic District - Virginia / Kentucky / Tennessee, 1980 Jump up ^ `` Plants : Cumberland Gap National Historical Park ''. National Park Service. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved 28 July 2014. Jump up ^ `` Animals : Cumberland Gap National Historical Park ''. National Park Service. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved 28 July 2014. Further reading Kincaid, Robert L. ( January 1941 ). `` Cumberland Gap, Gateway of Empire ''. Filson Club History Quarterly. 15 ( 1 ). Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 30. The short film Cumberland Gap ( 1986 ) is available for free download at the Internet Archive Rickie Longfellow, Back in Time : The Cumberland Gap, United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cumberland Gap. Cumberland Gap National Historical Park at the National Park Service Visitor Attractions of the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield Parks State Buckhorn Lake Carr Creek Carter Caves Cumberland Falls Dawkins Line Rail Trail Dr. Thomas Walker Fishtrap Lake Grayson Lake Greenbo Lake Jenny Wiley Kingdom Come Levi Jackson Wilderness Road Natural Bridge Paintsville Lake Pine Mountain Pine Mountain Trail Yatesville Lake Federal Big South Fork Cumberland Gap Interstate Breaks Interstate Museums Barthell Coal Mining Camp Bell County Coal House & Museum Bell County Historical Society Museum Big Sandy Heritage Center Blue Heron Coal Mining Camp Bobby Davis Museum and Park Breathitt County Museum C.B. Caudill Store & History Center Cloverfork Museum Coal Miners ' Museum Cumberland Inn Museum David A. Zegeer Coal - Railroad Museum East Kentucky Science Center Elkhorn City Railroad Museum F.M. Stafford House Harland Sanders Café & Museum Hensley Settlement Highlands Museum and Discovery Center Kentucky Coal Mining Museum Kentucky Folk Art Center Knox Historical Museum Magoffin County Pioneer Village and Museum Marie Stewart Museum & Craft Shop McCreary County Museum Morgan County History Museum Mountain Homeplace Mountain Life Museum Northeastern Kentucky Museum Samuel May House Swamp Valley Museum U.S. 23 Country Music Highway Museum Wolfe County History Museum Forests Daniel Boone Dewey Lake Jefferson Kentenia Kentucky Ridge Robinson Tygarts Reservoirs Buckhorn Lake Carr Creek Lake Cave Run Lake Cranks Creek Lake Lake Cumberland Dewey Lake Fishtrap Lake Grayson Lake Greenbo Lake Laurel River Lake Martins Fork Lake Paintsville Lake Yatesville Lake Natural features Black Mountain Cumberland Falls Cumberland Gap Dog Slaughter Falls Eagle Falls Middlesboro crater Pine Mountain Pound Gap Raven Rock Red River Gorge Tri-State Peak Yahoo Arch Yahoo Falls Miscellaneous Bad Branch Falls State Nature Preserve Bat Cave and Cascade Caverns State Nature Preserves Big South Fork Scenic Railway Black Mountain Off - Road Adventure Area Cumberland Gap Tunnel Furnace Mountain Kentucky Reptile Zoo Mayo Mansion Middle Creek Battlefield Nada Tunnel Pikeville Cut - Through Pilot Knob State Nature Preserve Sheltowee Trace Trail Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cumberland_Gap&oldid=840557538 '' Categories : Cumberland Gap Landforms of Bell County, Kentucky Landforms of Claiborne County, Tennessee Landforms of Lee County, Virginia Valleys of Kentucky Valleys of Tennessee Wind gaps of Virginia Rail mountain passes of the United States East Tennessee Eastern Kentucky Coalfield Southwest Virginia Talk Contents About Wikipedia Dansk Deutsch Español Français Nederlands Norsk Polski Simple English 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 10 May 2018, at 17 : 16. 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Question: what is the significance of the cumberland gap
Answer: Famous in American colonial history for its role as a key passageway through the lower central Appalachians