| a pass in the Cumberland Mountains at the junction of the Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee boundaries. 1315 ft. (401 m) high. |
Cum·ber·land Gap  (kŭm'bər-lənd)  A natural passage through the Cumberland Plateau 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. |
Pass through the Cumberland Mountains between Virginia and Kentucky that was used by early settlers to move west.
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.
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