Cumberland Gap

Cum·ber·land Gap

C0802600 (kŭm′bər-lənd) A natural passage through the Cumberland Mts. near the junction of the Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee borders. It was used by Daniel Boone in 1775 as a strategic point along his Wilderness Road, the principal route of westward migration for the next half century.

Cum′berland Gap′

n. a pass in the Cumberland Mountains at the junction of the Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee boundaries. 1315 ft. (401 m) high.

Thesaurus

Noun

Cumberland Gap - a pass through the Cumberland Mountains between Virginia and Kentucky that early settlers used in order to move westCumberland Mountains, Cumberland Plateau - the southwestern part of the Appalachians

Cumberland Gap

See also: National Parks and Monuments (table)National Parks and Monuments

National Parks
Name Type¹ Location Year authorized Size
acres (hectares)
Description
Acadia NP SE Maine 1919 48,419 (19,603) Mountain and coast scenery.
..... Click the link for more information.

Cumberland Gap,

natural passage through the Cumberland Mts., near the point where Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee meet. The gap was formed by the erosive action of a stream that once flowed there. It was explored and named in 1750 by Dr. Thomas Walker, leader of a land company exploration party. Daniel BooneBoone, Daniel,
1734–1820, American frontiersman, b. Oley (now Exeter) township, near Reading, Pa.

The Boones, English Quakers, left Pennsylvania in 1750 and settled (1751 or 1752) in the Yadkin valley of North Carolina.
..... Click the link for more information. 's Wilderness RoadWilderness Road,
principal avenue of westward migration for U.S. pioneers from c.1790 to 1840, blazed in 1775 by the American frontiersman Daniel Boone and an advance party of the Transylvania Company. Feeders from the east (Richmond, Va.) and the north (Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
..... Click the link for more information. ran through the gap. A strategic point in the Civil War, the gap was held alternately by Confederate and Union forces. Cumberland Gap National Historical Park was established in 1940 (see National Parks and MonumentsNational Parks and Monuments

National Parks
Name Type¹ Location Year authorized Size
acres (hectares)
Description
Acadia NP SE Maine 1919 48,419 (19,603) Mountain and coast scenery.
..... Click the link for more information. , table).

Cumberland Gap

Cum·ber·land Gap

Cum′berland Gap′

Cumberland Gap

Cumberland Gap,

Cumberland Gap

Words related to Cumberland Gap

noun a pass through the Cumberland Mountains between Virginia and Kentucky that early settlers used in order to move west

Related Words