Cumberland Gap Cumberland Gap This article is about a United States mountain pass. For other uses, see Cumberland Gap (disambiguation). Not to be confused with the Cumberland Narrows, another water gap through the Appalachian Mountains. Cumberland Gap (el. 1600 ft./488 m.) is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains , also known as the Cumberland Water Gap , at the juncture of the U.S. states of Tennessee , Kentucky , and Virginia . Famous in American history for its role as one 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. The Cumberland Gap was discovered in 1750 by Dr. Thomas Walker, a Virginia physician and explorer. Long used by Native Americans, the path was widened by a team of loggers led by Daniel Boone , making it accessible to pioneers, who used it to journey into the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee. Location Cumberland Gap is located just north of the spot where the current-day states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia meet. The nearby town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee takes its name from the pass.

The gap was formed by an ancient creek, flowing southward, which cut through the land being pushed up to form the mountains. As the land rose even more, the creek reversed direction flowing into the Cumberland River to the north. The gap was used by Native Americans and migrating animal herds. History The gap was named for Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, 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 Dr. 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. 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 1790's the trail that Boone and his men built was widened in the 1790s to accommodate wagon traffic. It is estimated that between 200,000 and 300,000 immigrants 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 1,200,000 people visit the park on the site annually. 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.

Geological features The 12-mile (19 km) long Cumberland Gap consists of four geologic features: the Yellow Creek valley, the natural gap in the Cumberland Mountain ridge, the eroded gap in the Pine Mountain, and Middlesboro crater. Middlesboro crater is a 3-mile (5 km) diameter meteorite impact crater in which Middlesboro, Kentucky is located. The crater was identified in 1966 when Robert Dietz discovered shatter cones in sandstone , which led to the further identification of shocked quartz. Shatter cones, a rock shattering pattern naturally formed only during impact events, are found in abundance in the area. In September 2003 the site was designated a Distinguished Geologic Site by the Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists. Without Middlesboro crater, it would have been difficult for packhorses to navigate this gap and 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 impact crater. Special mining techniques must be used in the complicated strata of this crater. (Milam & Kuehn, 36).

References in popular culture Cumberland Gap has lent its name to a popular folk song recorded and performed by American folk and bluegrass musicians such as Woody Guthrie and Earl Scruggs and British skiffle artists such as Lonnie Donegan and The Vipers Skiffle Group. A style of beard with sideburns that has a "gap" cut through it about an inch wide right below each earlobe is colloquially known by some as a "Cumberland Gap". The gap has been mentioned in many songs, including the Old Crow Medicine Show song "Wagon Wheel" co-written by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor, the song "Thunder Road", and the song "Mighty Joe Moon" by American band Grant Lee Buffalo. The gap is mentioned in the Seinfeld episode "The Red Dot" during a comedy show of Jerry's in which he and a heckler are discussing the acceptability of drinking on a wagon based on the smoothness of the trail down which it is moving.

(Wikipedia) In The Life Of...The Beatles: "The Cumberland Gap" Wednesday, September 23, 2009 "The Cumberland Gap" "The Cumberland Gap" is a traditional song that was released by Lonnie Donegan as well as the Vipers Skiffle Group, who had a top 10 hit with it in the UK. The Quarry Men covered the number live from 1957 to 1959. Cumberland Gap (el. 1600 ft./488 m.) is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains, also known as the Cumberland Water Gap. Famous in American history for its role as the chief passageway through the central Appalachians, it was an important part of the Wilderness Road. Long used by Native Americans, the path was widened by a team of loggers led by Daniel Boone, making it accessible to pioneers, who used it to journey into the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee. Location Cumberland Gap is located just north of the spot where the current-day states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia meet. The nearby town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee takes its name from the pass.

The gap was formed by an ancient creek, flowing southward, which cut through the land being pushed up to form the mountains. As the land rose even more, the creek reversed direction flowing into the Cumberland River to the north. The gap was used by Native Americans and migrating animal herds. History The gap was named for Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, 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 1775, Daniel Boone, hired by the Transylvania Company, led a company of men to widen the path through the gap to make settlement of Kentucky and Tennessee easier. The trail was widened in the 1790s to accommodate wagon traffic. Map showing Cumberland Gap in relation to the Wilderness Road route from Virginia to Kentucky It is estimated that between 200,000 and 300,000 immigrants 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 1,200,000 people visit the park on the site annually. 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. Geological features The 12-mile (19 km) long Cumberland Gap consists of four geologic features: the Yellow Creek valley, the natural gap in the Cumberland Mountain ridge, the eroded gap in the Pine Mountain, and Middlesboro crater. Middlesboro crater is a 3-mile (4.8 km) diameter meteorite impact crater in which Middlesboro, Kentucky is located. The crater was identified in 1966 when Robert Dietz discovered shatter cones in sandstone, which led to the further identification of shocked quartz. Shatter cones, a rock shattering pattern naturally formed only during impact events, are found in abundance in the area. In September 2003 the site was designated a Distinguished Geologic Site by the Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists.

Without Middlesboro crater, it would have been difficult for packhorses to navigate this gap and 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 impact crater. Special mining techniques must be used in the complicated strata of this crater. (Milam & Kuehn, 36). USA: Southeast: Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia | portfolio.photoseek.com USA: Southeast: Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia 18 galleries Click to open any Southeast USA gallery by Tom Dempsey: - Kentucky (KY): Mammoth Cave NP. - West Virginia (WV): Harpers Ferry, Green Bank Telescope, New River Gorge. - Virginia (VA): Historic Jamestowne, Jamestown Settlement, Williamsburg, plantations, Monticello, Mount Vernon, Shenandoah NP, Luray Caverns, Blue Ridge Parkway, Natural Tunnel SP, Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge & ponies, Humpback Covered Bridge, Cumberland Gap (spanning VA+TN+KY).

-Tennessee (TN): Great Smoky Mountains (spanning TN+NC), Cherohala Skyway (spanning TN+NC), Bays Mountain Park. - North Carolina (NC): Blue Ridge Parkway, Durham, Duke, Eno River, Hanging Rock, Outer Banks. Loading ()... USA: Southeast favorites:... 71 images Favorite Southeast USA photos by Tom Dempsey include: - Virginia (VA): Shenandoah National Park orange sunset & tree silhouette, Luray Caverns (stalactites, stalagmites, & columns), Monticello (wonderful estate of Thomas Jefferson), Natural Tunnel State Park, Mount Vernon plantation of George Washington, Chincoteague Pony, Jamestown Settlement (blacksmith, Susan Constant ship replica, English Fort, firing a 1600s matchlock musket, cannon), Humpback Covered Bridge, lily garden flowers, Cumberland Gap National Historic Park. - West Virginia (WV): Babcock State Park's Glade Creek Grist Mill; barn and silo amidst fall leaf colors; a dog peers through white fence in historic Harpers Ferry.

- North Carolina (NC): Hanging Rock State Park's spectacular fall leaf colors; Cherohala Skyway in both TN & NC; Blue Ridge Mountains and Parkway (Waterrock Knob, Grandfather Mountain, Looking Glass Rock); Durham (reflections upon Eno River State Park, Duke University Chapel, Duke Gardens). - Tennessee (TN): Great Smoky Mountains National Park overlaps both TN & NC (Cades Cove, Clingman's Dome panorama, Roaring Fork waterfalls, fall foliage colors, poplar forest with yellow leaves); Bays Mountain Park in Kingsport. - Kentucky (KY): Mammoth Cave National Park; green algae growing on fantastic pattern of white mushrooms on tree trunk. USA: Kentucky: Mammoth Cave 29 images Photos from Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, include: fall foliage color, Historic Entrance panoramas, stairways, formations, cave cricket, wild turkey, green algae on white fungus covering a tree trunk, and scenic drive. In 1981, UNESCO honored Mammoth Cave National Park as a World Heritage Site. WV: Harpers Ferry, Babcock, Green...

28 images Photos of West Virginia include: New River Gorge Bridge and boardwalk, Hawks Nest State Park views of New River, Babcock State Park, Glade Creek Grist Mill, barn with silo and farm amidst fall leaf colors, Green Bank Radio Telescope, map of the National Radio Quiet Zone, Harpers Ferry Armory, John Brown's Fort, 1833 St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church, Jefferson Rock, Hilltop House, Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad Crossings bridges on the Potomac River, funny dogs looking through window cut in fence. VA: Williamsburg, Jamestowne,... 78 images Historic Jamestowne, run by the National Park Service and Preservation Virginia, is the actual historic and archaeological site where in 1607, English settlers established the first successful English colony (Virginia) in the Americas, on Jamestown Island.

Photos from Historic Jamestowne include: palisade of the James Fort, Captain John Smith and Pocahontas bronze statues, Memorial Church, 1907 Tercentennial Monument obelisk, well excavation, cannon, Jamestown-Scotland Ferry, Chesapeake Bay map; Coat of Arms of United Kingdom & Ireland, used 1603-1649 by James VI (King of Scots), 1660-1689 by Charles II, and 1702-1707 by Queen Anne. The adjacent Jamestown Settlement, operated by Virginia’s Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, chronicles 1600s Virginia and the convergence of three cultures: Powhatan Indians (with recreated Village), Europeans (with recreated English Fort and ship replicas Godspeed, Discovery, and flagship Susan Constant), and west central African tribes. Created as part of the 350th anniversary celebration in 1957 as Jamestown Festival Park, the museum of Jamestown Settlement is adjacent to the complementary Historic Jamestowne.

Photos of nearby Colonial Williamsburg include: Capitol building, Chowning Tavern, Governor's Palace foyer, wood-fired stove, dining table with 1700s style place settings, pipe organ, guns, swords, 1715 Bruton Parish Church, Courthouse with actors, straw hats, two-horse carriage, alphabet drawn with contorted human bodies, silversmith tools, and map of the British colonies in North America from the mid 1700's. VA: Plantations: Monticello, Shirley 11 images Monticello (the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States) reflects in a pond on a hill near Charlottesville, Virginia. The fascinating tour inside includes underground buildings with old wood fired kitchen and copper pots. The Rotunda building (built 1822-26) graces the grounds of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Shirley Plantation, settled in 1613, is the oldest active plantation in Virginia and said to be the oldest family-owned business in North America, dating back to 1638.

VA: Plantations: Mount Vernon 24 images View Tom Dempsey's photos of Mount Vernon, Virginia, which was the plantation home of George Washington, the first President of the United States (1789–1797). The mansion is built of wood in neoclassical Georgian architectural style on the banks of the Potomac River. Mount Vernon estate was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and is owned and maintained in trust by The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. The estate served as neutral ground for both sides during the American Civil War, although fighting raged across the nearby countryside. George Washington (born 1732, died 1799) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America (USA), serving as the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and presiding over the convention that drafted the Constitution in 1787. Named in his honor are Washington, D.C. (the District of Columbia, capital of the United States) and the State of Washington on the Pacific Coast. VA: Appalachia: Blue Ridge Parkway 36 images This gallery illustrates Virginia's section of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

(See separate gallery for North Carolina's section.) Photos by Tom Dempsey include: - vibrant fall foliage colors on October 18-19, 2015 - a lovely sunset view at Chimney Rock Mountain Overlook (Milepost 44.9, elevation 2485 feet), near Buena Vista - Indian Rocks, a beautiful short stroll at Indian Gap The scenic 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway was built 1935-1987 to aesthetically connect Shenandoah National Park (in Virginia) with Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina, following crest-lines and the Appalachian Trail. VA: Appalachia: Natural Tunnel... 10 images At the unique Natural Tunnel State Park, near Duffield, Virginia, both a train and a river share the same natural limestone cave, measuring 850 feet (255 meters) long, since 1890. Natural Tunnel began forming during the early Pleistocene Epoch and was fully formed by about one million years ago. Daniel Boone is believed to have been the first white man to see it.

William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) dubbed this tourist attraction as the "Eighth Wonder of the World." Natural Tunnel State Park was created in 1967 and opened to the public in 1971. A passenger train line ran through Natural Tunnel for a time and today, coal is still carried through by rail to the southeast USA. VA: Luray Caverns, Shenandoah NP,... 35 images Photos from Virginia by Tom Dempsey include: Shenandoah National Park, orange sunset, tree silhouettes. Luray Caverns photos include: Great Stalacpipe Organ (a unique musical instrument that taps bell-like stalactites), blue-green Wishing Well pool, cave speleothems, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, columns, mud flows, patterns. Humpback Covered Bridge, built in 1857 near Covington (Interstate 64, Exit 10), is the oldest remaining covered bridge in the state of Virginia. Its unique humpback design raises the bridge deck 4 feet higher in the middle than on the ends. VA: Chincoteague, Gloucester...

24 images View photos of Chincoteague Ponies, Assateague Light House (built 1867), water birds (Great White Egret, Snowy Egret, Glossy Ibis, Black Skimmer), historic Gloucester Courthouse, and pretty garden lilies by Tom Dempsey. Assateague Island is within Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Virginia Eastern Shore, USA, and can be reached by road bridge from Chincoteague Island. The Chincoteague Pony (or Assateague horse) is a breed of small horse (Equus ferus caballus) which lives wild on Assateague Island in Virginia and Maryland, USA. The breed was made famous by the “Misty of Chincoteague” series written by Marguerite Henry starting in 1947. Legend claims that Chincoteague ponies descend from wrecked Spanish galleons. But they more likely descend from stock released by 1600s colonists escaping laws and taxes levied on mainland livestock. In 1835, settlers began pony penning to remove some horses.

In 1924 the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company held the first official "Pony Penning Day," where ponies were swum across Assateague Channel and auctioned to raise money, a tradition thriving ever since as a public spectacle. The federal government owns Assateague Island, which is split by a fence at the Maryland/Virginia state line, with a herd of around 150 ponies living on each side of the fence managed separately. The Maryland herd of “Assateague horses” lives within Assateague Island National Seashore and is treated as wild, except for contraceptives given to prevent overpopulation. The Virginia herd of “Chincoteague ponies” lives within the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge but is owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company. The Virginia ponies get twice yearly veterinary inspections to cover possible auction sale into the outside world. Only about 300 ponies live on Assateague Island, but 1000 more live off-island, having been privately purchased or bred.

Gloucester County was the site of Werowocomoco, a capital of the large and powerful Native American Powhatan Confederacy, which affiliated 30 tribes under a paramount chief. It was home to members of early colonial First Families of Virginia and important leaders in the period up to the American Revolutionary War. VA/TN/KY: Cumberland Gap National... 3 images In Virginia, visit Pinnacle Overlook (2440 feet elevation) in Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, above Middlesboro, Kentucky and Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. From Pinnacle Overlook, see Tristate Peak where the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia meet, as resolved in 1803. The pass of Cumberland Gap (elevation 1600 feet / 488 meters) is famous in American history as the chief passageway through the central Appalachian Mountains and as an important part of the Wilderness Road. Long used by Native Americans, the path was widened by a team of loggers led by Daniel Boone, making it accessible to pioneers, who used it to journey into the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee. The gap was formed by a southward flowing ancient creek which cut through tectonically uplifted mountains.

As the land lifted, the creek reversed direction, flowing into the Cumberland River to the north. Nearby, stop by Clinch Mountain Lookout, near Bean Station, Tennessee, to ogle Cherokee Lake, dammed by the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) on the Holston River in 1941. TN: Appalachia: Bays Mountain Park 10 images Bays Mountain Park & Planetarium Kingsport, Tennessee, USA: enjoy walking a 2.3-mile loop (and other trails) on boardwalks and easy paths around the old Kingsport city reservoir which provided water 1917-1944 and now serves as lake habitat. This attractive nature preserve is the largest city-owned park in Tennessee and was declared a State Natural Area in 1973. As part of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, the ridge of Bays Mountain runs southwest to northeast, from just south of Knoxville to Kingsport, in eastern Tennessee. TN/NC: Great Smoky Mountains... 45 images Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles Tennessee and North Carolina in the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are part of the larger Appalachian chain.

Photos include: panoramas seen from Webb Overlook and Clingman's Dome, Cades Cove churches, Cable Mill Historic Area, Mingus Mill, historic settler cabins, cantilever and drive-through barns, old wood fired stove, wooden buggy & wagon, yokes, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, fall foliage colors, Little River Road, walking behind Grotto Falls, deer. In 1983, Great Smoky Mountains National Park was honored as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. TN/NC: Cherohala Skyway 10 images Cherohala Skyway: Atop the Unicoi Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina, USA, the Cherohala Skyway reveals far-reaching views in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a subset of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Vibrant fall foliage colors begin in mid October at highest elevations then work their way down the Cherohala Skyway. Long in planning since 1958, the Cherohala Skyway opened to automobile traffic in 1996 – a new National Scenic Byway.

The Skyway climbs over 4000 feet, starting at elevation 900 feet along Tellico River and reaching 5400 feet on the slopes of Haw Knob in North Carolina. The 43-mile paved road of the Cherohala Skyway follows Tennessee State Route 165 (SR-165 or TN 165) for 25 miles from Tellico Plains to the state line at Stratton Gap, then continues on North Carolina Highway 143 (NC 143) for 18 miles to Robbinsville. Cherohala combines the names of the two National Forests traversed: "Chero" from Cherokee and "hala" from Nantahala NF. The Skyway accesses various protected and recreational areas including Citico Creek Wilderness, Bald River Gorge Wilderness, and Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. NC: Appalachia: Blue Ridge Parkway 55 images This gallery illustrates North Carolina's section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. (See separate gallery for Virginia's section.) Photos by Tom Dempsey include: - Moses H.

Cone Memorial Park - Beacon Heights Trail - Grandfather Mountain - Linville Falls and Linville Gorge Wilderness Area, Pisgah National Forest. - Waterrock Knob Trail - various overlooks and fall foliage colors The scenic 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway was built 1935-1987 to aesthetically connect Shenandoah National Park (in Virginia) with Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina, following crest-lines and the Appalachian Trail. It is both a National Parkway and an "All-American Road" (one of the best of the National Scenic Byways). NC: Appalachia: Hanging Rock State... 29 images Look across miles of autumn orange and red foliage at Hanging Rock State Park, Stokes County, North Carolina, USA. The eroded quartzite knob called Hanging Rock rises to 2150 feet elevation. The park is 30 miles (48 km) north of Winston-Salem, 2 miles from Danbury.

The Sauratown Mountain Range is made of monadnocks (or inselbergs, isolated hills) from erosion-resistant quartzite remnants of mountains pushed up between 250 and 500 million years ago, that are separated from the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains. NC: Outer Banks 11 images The Outer Banks are a 200-mile (320-km) long string of narrow barrier islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina. Photos include: Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, Bodie Island Lighthouse, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, sea shells, skate egg case, and bird tracks in sand dune patterns. NC: Durham: Duke & Eno River State... 26 images Photos around Durham, North Carolina, include: gothic spires of Duke University Chapel, Duke Gardens (Muscovy Duck, Great Blue Heron eating fish, lily pond reflections, orange mushroom, Sugar Maple vibrant autumn colors), and fall foliage colors reflected in Eno River State Park.

Cumberland Gap 1986 National Park Service narrated by Lorne Greene 11min - YouTube Cumberland Gap 1986 National Park Service narrated by Lorne Greene 11min Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Apr 19, 2012 more at "...Cumberland Gap as a special place of passing for thousands of years--a place with a long relationship to the affairs of man. It relates the important role the gap played in opening the West to settlement." Public domain film from the National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied. Cumberland Gap (el. 1,600 ft (490 m)) is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains, also known as the Cumberland Water Gap, at the juncture of the U.S. states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia.

Famous in American history for its role as one 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. The Cumberland Gap was discovered in 1750 by Dr. Thomas Walker, a Virginia physician and explorer. Long used by Native Americans, the path was widened by a team of loggers led by Daniel Boone, making it accessible to pioneers who used it to journey into the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee. Cumberland Gap is located just north of the spot where the current-day states of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia meet. The nearby town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee takes its name from the pass. The gap was named for Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, 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 Dr. 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. 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 was widened to accommodate wagon traffic. Several American Civil War engagements were centered 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 1,200,000 people visit the park on the site annually. 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... - Cumberland Gap has lent its name to a popular folk song recorded and performed by American folk and bluegrass musicians such as Woody Guthrie and Earl Scruggs and British skiffle artists such as Lonnie Donegan and the Vipers Skiffle Group.

- The gap has been mentioned in many songs, including the Old Crow Medicine Show song "Wagon Wheel" co-written by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor, the song "The Ballad of Thunder Road", and the song "Mighty Joe Moon" by American band Grant Lee Buffalo. - In 1889 a United States Senator voted against having a World's Fair, the fair Chicago's bid eventually won, "and out of sheer cussedness voted for Cumberland Gap" as the proposed site. - In the episode "The Red Dot" of the NBC situation comedy Seinfeld, Jerry references the Cumberland Gap in his retort to a drunk heckler... Category Daniel Boone - Historic Missourians - The State Historical Society of Missouri Daniel Boone (1734 - 1820) Introduction Daniel Boone is one of the most famous frontiersmen in U.S. history. He was a skilled hunter, trapper, and trailblazer. During the early days of westward expansion, Boone’s explorations helped open the frontier to new settlements.

In 1799, he led his family and other settlers across the Mississippi River The Mississippi River runs south from northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico and is considered the chief river in North America's largest drainage system. Bordering Missouri on the east, the river flows for 2,530 miles. Along with the Missouri River and several other tributaries such as the Ohio River, the Mississippi became part of the nation's first major transportation system in the early 1800s after the invention of the steamboat. Missouri has historically engaged in international trade by shipping and receiving goods along the Mississippi through the port of New Orleans, which lies at the river's mouth. into land populated by Native Americans but claimed by Spain. Boone spent the last twenty years of his life in what is now Missouri. Early Years [Daniel Boone, Affidavit (C1467), The State Historical Society of Missouri, Manuscript Collection–Columbia ] Daniel Boone did not attend school. His older brother’s wife taught him to read and write. Though he mastered the basics, Boone’s grammar and spelling remained poor.

Boone could sign his name, though, which set him apart from most frontiersmen, who used an "X" for their signature. Around 1750 the Boones moved to North Carolina and settled in the Yadkin River valley. The Native Americans who lived and hunted there did not like sharing their land with the settlers. Fights Early settlers moved west looking for land on which to build their homes. They cleared the land and hunted game, or animals, that also provided food for the Native Americans already living there. Many people were killed in the conflict over these limited resources. [SHS 028862] frequently broke out between the two groups, and Boone joined the county militia to help defend the settlements. Fights Alongside British George Washington George Washington (1732–1799). [SHS 016228] Boone joined British Major General Edward Braddock on his march to attack Fort Duquesne, a French fortification located in present-day Pittsburgh. George Washington—then a young colonial militia leader—also joined the march.

During the trip, Boone worked as a wagoner alongside a trader named John Findley who had trekked to the Native American villages in Ohio and beyond. John told Boone about a place the Native Americans called “Kentucke”—a hunting ground packed with deer, buffalo, bear, and turkey. As the men neared Fort Duquesne, they were overpowered and suffered huge losses. Boone grabbed a horse from his wagon team and escaped, eventually returning to North Carolina but dreaming of Kentucky. Hunts and Explores Frontier Daniel Boone in Kentucky In this 1854 engraving entitled, Daniel Boone and the Hunters of Kentucky by W. H. Bogart, Daniel Boone is pictured with his fellow explorers viewing the lush wilderness of Kentucky for the first time. [SHS 028803] Detail of hunting knife blade. [SHS 018549] a hatchet, a powder horn, and a bullet pouch. Many images portray Boone wearing a coonskin cap, which was popular with trappers. Boone preferred wide-brimmed beaver felt hats to keep the sun out of his eyes. The Shawnee captured This detail from an engraving published in Cecil B.

Hartley's The Life of Daniel Boone: The Great Western Hunter and Pioneer shows two Shawnee men capturing Daniel Boone. [SHS 028948] Boone’s hunting party several months into the expedition. They claimed the area as their hunting ground and believed anything caught there belonged to them. The Shawnee took the men’s supplies and deerskins. Boone escaped and finally returned home in March 1771, penniless and empty-handed. Moves West into Kentucky Boonesborough Boonesborough, circa 1778. Because Boonesborough was situated in a remote area at the edge of the frontier, settlers fortified the village with a high-walled fence. Skirmishes with the American Indians were common. Sometimes, Daniel Boone had to fight to protect the settlement; other times he was able to negotiate peace. [The Boone Narrative, SHS 028863] In 1775 a friend hired Boone to cut a path into Kentucky for a new settlement on land purchased from the Cherokee. Boone led about thirty axmen through the wilderness to clear a path, which eventually became a route to the new frontier and was called the Wilderness Road . Boone Monument at Cumberland Gap.

During colonial times, most settlements clustered on the East Coast between the Atlantic Ocean and the Appalachian Mountains. The Native Americans crossed the Appalachians at a place called the Cumberland Gap. This passageway is located just north of where Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia meet. In 1775, Daniel Boone led a group of axmen through the passageway. They cleared a trail that became known as the Wilderness Road. Afterward, a large number of settlers followed the trail into western Kentucky and Tennessee. [SHS 028805] Boone rescues Jemima Daniel Boone rescuing his daughter Jemima. This lithograph, painted by George Fasel, depicts Daniel Boone rescuing his teenage daughter, Jemima, from captivity. On Sunday, July 14, 1776, Jemima Boone and her two friends, Elizabeth and Frances Callaway, were canoeing on the Kentucky River when they were captured by a small party of Cherokee and Shawnee men. The fortified settlement of Boonesborough, where the girls lived with their families, was greatly alarmed and sent out a rescue party organized by Daniel Boone.

After three days of searching, Boone and his party found Jemima and the Callaway girls across the Ohio River. This image of the rescue was published in an 1851 book titled Heroic Deeds of Former Times. [SHS 006965] Life on the frontier was dangerous. Native Americans frequently attacked Attack on Fort Boonesborough. [SHS 028806] Boonesborough, hoping to drive the settlers back east. In 1776, Boone’s daughter Jemima was kidnapped by a small group of Shawnee and Cherokee men while canoeing on the river. Boone led a rescue party that retrieved Jemima and her friends two days later. Boone was captured by the Shawnee in 1778. Impressed with Boone’s scouting and hunting skills, the Shawnee chief adopted Boone as one of his own. Boone lived among the Shawnee for four months before escaping and returning to Boonesborough. By 1798, Boone had lost all of his land in Kentucky due to title errors and debt.

Finds a Home in Missouri In 1799, Boone decided to move farther west, into the land that is now Missouri but at the time was called Upper Louisiana. He built a canoe from a six-foot poplar tree so he could move some household items by river. Boone made the journey with his wife, two of his daughters and their husbands, and son Daniel Morgan Boone . Several other Kentucky families came along, and son Nathan Boone soon followed. Boone mural Daniel Boone at Judgment Tree. This mural, titled Daniel Boone at Judgment Tree, is painted on the wall of the Senate chamber in the Missouri capitol building in Jefferson City. [SHS 024119] Spanish authorities, eager to have settlers in the area, granted Boone 850 acres in the Femme Osage District, This census record shows Daniel Boone and his son Nathan living in the Femme Osage Township of St. Charles County in 1817. [Census of St. Charles County, 1817 & 1819. SHS F508.3 sa21c] now part of St. Charles County. He was made a commandant, or syndic, of the Femme Osage District.

As a syndic, Boone settled disputes that arose among the area settlers. He became famous for holding court under a large tree on his son Nathan’s land. This tree was known as the “Judgment Tree.” Nathan Boone home Home of Nathan Boone in Defiance, Missouri. In 1815, Nathan Boone was discharged from the Missouri Rangers and moved back into his log home at Femme Osage. Around this time, he started building a new house on his property—a large stone home that signified his rising status in the community. Nathan constructed the walls from native limestone. The walls are two and a half feet thick. He used oxen to drag chunks of blue limestone to his property. Daniel Boone helped oversee construction of the home and is said to have carved the walnut mantelpieces for the seven fireplaces. The house also includes black walnut beams and oak floorboards. There is a ballroom on the top level. The home sits on a hill overlooking the river. Although the home appears to be a two-story from the front, the back is four stories tall and has two stories of full-length porches from which to enjoy the view. The home also sports several rifle slots—or gun ports.

On the frontier, the gun ports were necessary in the event of an attack. The house is often referred to as the “Daniel Boone Home,” but it was actually Nathan’s home. Daniel Boone lived in the home from time to time and did spend his final moments there, dying in a first-floor bedroom in 1820. The house , which sits near Defiance, has been preserved and is open for tours year-round. [SHS 007095] In 1804, Boone lost his land claims Original printed 1813 petition of Daniel Boone to the U.S. Congress for Land in the Louisiana Territory (p. 1). [SHS 028864(1)] Original printed 1813 petition of Daniel Boone to the U.S. Congress for Land in the Louisiana Territory (p. 2). [SHS 028864(2)] Original printed 1813 petition of Daniel Boone to the U.S. Congress for Land in the Louisiana Territory (p. 3). [SHS 028864(3)] Original printed 1813 petition of Daniel Boone to the U.S.

Congress for Land in the Louisiana Territory (p. 4). [SHS 028864(4)] after Spain had transferred the territory to France, which in turn sold it to the United States. Boone remained in the area, living on land family members had secured. Rebecca Boone died in 1813, and Boone spent his remaining years living with his children. In 1820 painter Chester Harding visited Boone and painted the only known portrait made during his lifetime. Daniel Boone died Obituary for Daniel Boone. [Missouri Gazette & Public Advertiser. St. Louis, October 3 [4], 1820. p. 3, col. 5.] at Nathan Boone’s home in Defiance, Missouri, on September 26, 1820. He was buried Boone gravesite marker. This monument sits atop Daniel Boone’s original grave, located in the Marthasville area overlooking the Missouri River. This site is part of the Boone-Bryan family cemetery. Rebecca Boone died in 1813 and was buried here. Boone died in 1820 and was buried next to her grave.

In 1845, Kentucky officials removed Daniel and Rebecca Boone’s bodies and reburied them in Frankfort, the capital of Kentucky. Some historians believe they took a slave’s body instead of Boone’s body. The debate continues, with each state claiming to have Boone’s remains. [SHS 006980] USA SOUTHEAST: Appalachians: VA, WV, NC, TN, KY | by Tom Dempsey Favorite photos from Southeast USA Our trips to Southeast USA (Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky) captured fascinating national and natural history plus colorful autumn leaves in the following favorite images: Above are Favorite images automatically played in a show. Below, view more extensive galleries. (PAUSE || or START SLIDESHOW as desired with buttons at lower right.) But mobile devices just display a fixed image, so click center to enlarge as a set of images with full captions in GALLERIES mode (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). All photographs in this article are taken from four trips: October 20 to November 10, 2008 to Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

October 25, 2010 to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. June 20 to July 1, 2012 to Virginia: Mount Vernon, Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the Eastern Shore, and Gloucester Courthouse. October 7-23, 2015 trip from Indianapolis to Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. Virginia: Monticello (Thomas Jefferson estate) and Shirley Plantation Monticello (the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States) reflects in a pond on a hill near Charlottesville, Virginia. The fascinating tour inside includes underground buildings with old wood fired kitchen and copper pots. The Rotunda building (built 1822-26) graces the grounds of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Shirley Plantation, settled in 1613, is the oldest active plantation in Virginia and said to be the oldest family-owned business in North America, dating back to 1638. Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device.

But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). Virginia: Mount Vernon, estate of George and Martha Washington View Tom Dempsey’s photos of Mount Vernon, Virginia, which was the plantation home of George Washington, the first President of the United States (1789–1797). The mansion is built of wood in neoclassical Georgian architectural style on the banks of the Potomac River. The estate served as neutral ground for both sides during the American Civil War, although fighting raged across the nearby countryside. George Washington (1732-1799) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America (USA), serving as the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and presiding over the convention that drafted the Constitution in 1787. Named in his honor are Washington, D.C. (the District of Columbia, capital of the United States) and the State of Washington on the Pacific Coast.

Mount Vernon estate was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and is owned and maintained in trust by The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device. But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). Virginia: Historic Jamestowne, Jamestown Settlement, and Williamsburg Historic Jamestowne, run by the National Park Service and Preservation Virginia, is the actual historic and archaeological site on Jamestown Island where in 1607, settlers established the first successful English colony (Virginia) in the Americas.

Historic Jamestowne photos below include: palisade of the James Fort, Captain John Smith and Pocahontas bronze statues, Memorial Church, 1907 Tercentennial Monument obelisk, well excavation, cannon, Jamestown-Scotland Ferry, Chesapeake Bay map; Coat of Arms of United Kingdom & Ireland, used 1603-1649 by James VI (King of Scots), 1660-1689 by Charles II, and 1702-1707 by Queen Anne. Adjacent to Historic Jamestowne is Jamestown Settlement, which was created in 1957 as “Jamestown Festival Park,” part of Virginia Colony’s 350th anniversary celebration. Jamestown Settlement, operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, chronicles 1600s Virginia and the convergence of three cultures: Powhatan Indians (with recreated Village), west central African tribes (described in museum), and Europeans (with recreated English Fort and ship replicas Godspeed, Discovery, and flagship Susan Constant).

Photos of nearby Colonial Williamsburg include: Capitol building, Chowning Tavern, Governor’s Palace foyer, wood-fired stove, dining table with 1700s style place settings, pipe organ, guns, swords, 1715 Bruton Parish Church, Courthouse with actors, straw hats, two-horse carriage, alphabet drawn with contorted human bodies, silversmith tools, and map of the British colonies in North America from the mid 1700s. Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device. But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). Virginia: Luray Caverns, Shenandoah National Park, and Humpback Covered Bridge My photos of Shenandoah National Park include tree silhouettes during an orange sunset. Humpback Covered Bridge, built in 1857 near Covington (Interstate 64, Exit 10), is the oldest remaining covered bridge in the state of Virginia, and its unusual humpback design raises the bridge deck 4 feet higher in the middle than on the ends.

Luray Caverns photos include: Great Stalacpipe Organ (a unique musical instrument that taps bell-like stalactites), blue-green Wishing Well pool, cave speleothems, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, columns, mud flows, patterns. Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device. But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). Virginia: Appalachia: Blue Ridge Parkway This gallery illustrates Virginia’s section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. (See separate gallery for North Carolina’s section.) Photos by Tom Dempsey include: vibrant fall foliage colors on October 18-19, 2015; a lovely sunset view at Chimney Rock Mountain Overlook (Milepost 44.9); and beautiful Indian Rocks. The scenic 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway was built 1935-1987 to aesthetically connect Shenandoah National Park (in Virginia) with Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina, following crest-lines and the Appalachian Trail.

Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device. But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). Virginia: Appalachia: Natural Tunnel State Park At the unique Natural Tunnel State Park, near Duffield, Virginia, both a train and a river share the same natural limestone cave, measuring 850 feet (255 meters) long, since 1890. Natural Tunnel began forming during the early Pleistocene Epoch and was fully formed by about one million years ago. Daniel Boone is believed to have been the first white man to see it. William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) dubbed this tourist attraction as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” Natural Tunnel State Park was created in 1967 and opened to the public in 1971. A passenger train line ran through Natural Tunnel for a time and today, coal is still carried through by rail to the southeast USA. Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device.

But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). Virginia: Chincoteague and Gloucester Courthouse Assateague Island is within Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Virginia Eastern Shore, and can be reached by road bridge from Chincoteague Island. Below, see my photos of Chincoteague Ponies, Assateague Light House (built 1867), water birds (Great White Egret, Snowy Egret, Glossy Ibis, Black Skimmer). The Chincoteague Pony (or Assateague horse) is a breed of small horse (Equus ferus caballus) which lives wild on Assateague Island in Virginia and Maryland, USA. The breed was made famous by the “Misty of Chincoteague” series written by Marguerite Henry starting in 1947. Legend claims that Chincoteague ponies descend from wrecked Spanish galleons. But they more likely descend from stock released by 1600s colonists escaping laws and taxes levied on mainland livestock.

In 1835, settlers began pony penning to remove some horses. In 1924 the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company held the first official “Pony Penning Day,” where ponies were swum across Assateague Channel and auctioned to raise money, a tradition thriving ever since as a public spectacle. The federal government owns Assateague Island, which is split by a fence at the Maryland/Virginia state line, with a herd of around 150 ponies living on each side of the fence managed separately. The Maryland herd of “Assateague horses” lives within Assateague Island National Seashore and is treated as wild, except for contraceptives given to prevent overpopulation. The Virginia herd of “Chincoteague ponies” lives within the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge but is owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company. The Virginia ponies get twice yearly veterinary inspections to cover possible auction sale into the outside world. Only about 300 ponies live on Assateague Island, but 1000 more live off-island, having been privately purchased or bred. Photos below also include historic Gloucester Courthouse and pretty garden lilies.

Gloucester County was the site of Werowocomoco, a capital of the large and powerful Native American Powhatan Confederacy, which affiliated 30 tribes under a paramount chief. It was home to members of early colonial First Families of Virginia and important leaders in the period up to the American Revolutionary War. Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device. But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). Virginia/Tennessee/Kentucky: Cumberland Gap National Historic Park In Virginia, visit Pinnacle Overlook (2440 feet elevation) in Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, above Middlesboro, Kentucky and Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. From Pinnacle Overlook, see Tristate Peak where the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia meet, as resolved in 1803. The pass of Cumberland Gap (elevation 1600 feet / 488 meters) is famous in American history as the chief passageway through the central Appalachian Mountains and as an important part of the Wilderness Road.

Long used by Native Americans, the path was widened by a team of loggers led by Daniel Boone, making it accessible to pioneers, who used it to journey into the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee. The gap was formed by a southward flowing ancient creek which cut through tectonically uplifted mountains. As the land lifted, the creek reversed direction, flowing into the Cumberland River to the north. Nearby, stop at Clinch Mountain Lookout, near Bean Station, Tennessee, to ogle Cherokee Lake, dammed by the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) on the Holston River in 1941. Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device. But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). Tennessee: Appalachia: Bays Mountain Park In Bays Mountain Park & Planetarium in Kingsport, Tennessee, enjoy walking a 2.3-mile loop (and other trails) on boardwalks and easy paths around the old Kingsport city reservoir which provided water 1917-1944 and now serves as lake habitat.

This attractive nature preserve is the largest city-owned park in Tennessee and was declared a State Natural Area in 1973. As part of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, the ridge of Bays Mountain runs southwest to northeast, from just south of Knoxville to Kingsport, in eastern Tennessee. Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device. But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). Tennessee/North Carolina: Great Smoky Mountains National Park Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles Tennessee and North Carolina in the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are part of the larger Appalachian chain. In 1983, Great Smoky Mountains National Park was honored as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Photos include: panoramas seen from Webb Overlook and Clingman’s Dome, Cades Cove churches, Cable Mill Historic Area, Mingus Mill, historic settler cabins, cantilever and drive-through barns, old wood fired stove, wooden buggy & wagon, yokes, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, fall foliage colors, Little River Road, walking behind Grotto Falls, deer.

Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device. But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). Tennessee/North Carolina: Cherohala Skyway Atop the Unicoi Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina, the Cherohala Skyway reveals far-reaching views in the Blue Ridge Mountains (a subset of the Southern Appalachian Mountains). Cherohala combines the names of the two National Forests traversed: “Chero” from Cherokee and “hala” from Nantahala NF. Vibrant fall foliage colors begin in mid October at highest elevations then work their way down the Cherohala Skyway. Long in planning since 1958, the Cherohala Skyway opened to automobile traffic in 1996 – a new National Scenic Byway. The Skyway climbs over 4000 feet, starting at elevation 900 feet along Tellico River and reaching 5400 feet on the slopes of Haw Knob in North Carolina.

The 43-mile paved Cherohala Skyway follows Tennessee State Route 165 (SR-165 or TN 165) for 25 miles from Tellico Plains to the state line at Stratton Gap, then continues on North Carolina Highway 143 (NC 143) for 18 miles to Robbinsville. The Skyway accesses various protected and recreational areas including Citico Creek Wilderness, Bald River Gorge Wilderness, and Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device. But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). North Carolina: Appalachia: Blue Ridge Parkway The Blue Ridge Parkway is a 469-mile (755 km) long highway that connects Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee, following the ridge crestlines near the Appalachian Trail. It is both a National Parkway and an “All-American Road” (one of the best of the National Scenic Byways). Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device.

But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). North Carolina: Appalachia: Hanging Rock State Park Look across miles of autumn orange and red foliage at Hanging Rock State Park, Stokes County, North Carolina. The eroded quartzite knob called Hanging Rock rises to 2150 feet elevation. The park is 30 miles (48 km) north of Winston-Salem, 2 miles from Danbury. The Sauratown Mountain Range is made of monadnocks (or inselbergs, isolated hills) from erosion-resistant quartzite remnants of mountains pushed up between 250 and 500 million years ago, that are separated from the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains. Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device. But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos).

North Carolina: Durham, Duke & Eno River State Park Photos around Durham, North Carolina, include: gothic spires of Duke University Chapel, Duke Gardens (Muscovy Duck, Great Blue Heron eating fish, lily pond reflections, orange mushroom, Sugar Maple vibrant autumn colors), and fall foliage colors reflected in Eno River State Park. Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device. But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). North Carolina: Outer Banks The Outer Banks are a 200-mile (320-km) long string of narrow barrier islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina. Photos include: Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, Bodie Island Lighthouse, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, sea shells, skate egg case, and bird tracks in sand dune patterns. Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device. But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos).

Kentucky The following photos from Mammoth Cave, Kentucky on October 25, 2010 include: fall foliage color, Historic Entrance panoramas, stairways, formations, cave cricket, wild turkey, green algae on white fungus covering a tree trunk, and scenic drive. In 1981, UNESCO honored Mammoth Cave National Park as a World Heritage Site. Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device. But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). West Virginia The following photos of West Virginia include: New River Gorge Bridge and boardwalk, Hawks Nest State Park views of New River, Babcock State Park, Glade Creek Grist Mill, barn with silo and farm amidst fall leaf colors, Green Bank Radio Telescope, map of the National Radio Quiet Zone, Harpers Ferry Armory, John Brown’s Fort, 1833 St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, Jefferson Rock, Hilltop House, Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad Crossings bridges on the Potomac River, funny dogs looking through window cut in fence.

> Above, browse the gallery and thumbnails easiest with a mouse device. But mobile devices display just a fixed picture, so please touch (click) to enlarge as a set of images with full captions (where Add to Cart button lets you buy photos). Recommended Southeast USA guidebooks from Amazon.com: 2010:

Question: Who led a team to make the Cumberland Gap, a way through the Appalachian Mountains, accessible to pioneers, who used it to journey into the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee?
Answer: Daniel Boone