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43-513: Long used by Native American nations, 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. An important part of the Wilderness Road , it is now part of

86-538: A historic district on May 28, 1980. 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. Of

129-469: A busy Indian trade from his home on Albemarle Sound . Thomas Wood may have been Abraham's son. Robert Fallam is a question mark. The journal he kept of their experience shows him to be a literate, educated man." The New River was named Wood's River after Abraham Wood, although in time it became better known as the New River. Batts and Fallam are generally credited with being the first Europeans to enter within

172-606: A committee to review Virginia's laws. He was elected to the Virginia Governor's Council in 1657 and actively served until at least 1671, and according to correspondence, he kept his seat through at least 1676, probably 1680. Wood dispatched several exploration parties from Fort Henry during these years, including one that he personally led in 1650, which explored the upper reaches of the James River and Roanoke River . In August 1650, Wood and Edward Bland reached and traveled on

215-614: A full 19 years before the arrival of famed frontiersman Daniel Boone . Thomas Walker was born at "Rye Field", Walkerton , King and Queen County, Virginia . He was raised as an Englishman in the Tidewater region of Virginia . Walker's first profession was that of a physician; he had attended the College of William & Mary and studied under his brother-in-law Dr. George Gilmer . Walker married Mildred Thornton (widow of Nicholas Meriwether) in 1741, and acquired land and owned enslaved people in

258-508: A gateway to the west. The base of the gap is about three hundred feet (90 m) above the valley floor, even though the north side of the pass was lowered twenty feet (6 m) during the construction of Old U.S. Route 25E . To the south, the ridge rises six hundred feet (180 m) above the pass, while to the north the Pinnacle Overlook towers 900 feet (270 m) above at an elevation of 2,505 feet (765 m). Centrally located in

301-672: Is named after the gap. 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

344-565: 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 did not return until 1775. In 1775 Daniel Boone , hired by

387-522: The Cumberland Gap . His party built the first non-Indian house (a cabin) in Kentucky, and helped Virginia pioneer Samuel Stalnaker build his home on the westernmost point in colonial Virginia. Walker kept a daily journal of the trip. During some of his expeditions, Walker explored with fellow Virginian, Indian agent, legislator, surveyor and later Revolutionary War general, Joseph Martin , as some of

430-590: The Cumberland Gap National Historical Park . The Cumberland Gap is one of many passes in the Appalachian Mountains , but one of the few in the continuous Cumberland Mountain ridgeline. 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 V-shaped gap serves as

473-501: The Dr. Thomas Walker State Historic Site . Thomas Walker High School is one of two high schools in Lee County, Virginia . It is located one mile east of the town of Ewing, and three miles west of the town of Rose Hill. Thomas Walker High School was built in 1940. It was built to combine Rose Hill High School and Ewing High School. The high school was remodeled and enlarged in 1959. The last addition

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516-724: The Great Indian Warpath , penetrating the Carolina region southwest of the Roanoke River and discovering westward flowing rivers. Daniel Coxe mentions that "Parts of this Country were discovered by the English long before the French had the least knowledge... Colonel Wood of Virginia... from the years 1654 to 1664 discovered at several times several branches of the great rivers Ohio and Mesechaceba (unknown current name)." Wood also dispatched

559-606: 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. The gap and associated historic resources were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as

602-668: The Tennessee River . Walker was influential in dealing with Indian affairs. He was appointed to represent Virginia at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix and Treaty of Lochaber (1770), and dealt with the peace negotiations after the Battle of Point Pleasant . In 1775, Walker served as a Virginia commissioner in negotiations with representatives of the Iroquois Six Nations in Pittsburgh , as the colonies tried to engage them as allies against

645-516: 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 already arrived in 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,

688-490: The eastern 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 (29-32 °C). 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. The nearby town of Cumberland Gap , Tennessee

731-429: The 1960s led many to interpret the geological features of the area to be the 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 the impact. In September 2003,

774-431: The 371 species of animals listed as of 2014 within the park, 33 are mammals , 89 are birds , 29 amphibians , 15 reptiles , 27 fish , and 187 are insects , however many others remain to be included. 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 . Over 120 species of birds have been logged in

817-578: The British. He is credited as the first to discover and use coal in Kentucky . Because of his broad knowledge of the areas and their resources, Walker became an adviser to Thomas Jefferson from 1780 to 1783 as the future president wrote his Notes on the State of Virginia (1785). Thomas Walker died on November 9, 1794, at his home of Castle Hill. Kentucky built a replica of the cabin which his expedition put up in present-day Kentucky; it has been designated as

860-526: The Keswick Hunt Club describes as the beginning of fox-hunting in the region. On July 12, 1749, the Loyal Land Company was founded with Walker as a leading member, along with fellow surveyors Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson , as well as many investors. After receiving a royal grant of 800,000 acres (320,000 ha) in what is now southeastern Kentucky (which was occupied by Native Americans ),

903-574: The Tomahitan town Needham was killed by a member of the trading party with whom he was traveling. Shortly thereafter, Arthur was almost killed by a mob in the Tomahitan settlement but was saved and then adopted by the town's headman. Arthur lived with the Tomahitans for almost a year, accompanying them on war and trading expeditions as far south as Spanish Florida and as far north as the Ohio River. Wood

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946-534: The U-shaped structure of the Middlesboro Syncline. The once flat-lying sedimentary rocks were 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

989-746: The Virginia House of Burgesses and as a member of the Virginia Governor's Council . Abraham Wood emigrated from England as a 10-year-old boy in 1620. The English ship Margaret and John , on which he sailed as an indentured servant or cabin boy, was attacked by two Spanish vessels in the West Indies ; Wood was one of the few survivors; the attack led the vessel to turn to the Virginia colonies. By 1625, Wood worked for Captain Samuel Mathews and lived at Jamestown . He filed several land claims for areas on

1032-424: The Virginia and North Carolina. (At that time each state claimed the land to the west of their boundaries for ultimate settlement by the right of discovery.) Because the border was mapped and surveyed, rather than created along the natural boundary of a river, it was considered controversial. It was called the "Walker Line" and still constitutes the border between Kentucky and Tennessee from east to west terminating at

1075-627: The company appointed Walker to lead an expedition to explore and survey the region in 1750, so he set out, probably along the Wilderness Road . Walker also bought a plantation from Frye along the Hardware River in Albemarle County, in part to pay sums due him for his surveying services. Fellow stockholders elected Walker head of the Loyal Land Company in 1752. During the expedition, Walker gave names to many topographical features, including

1118-470: The complicated strata of this crater. The earliest written account of Cumberland Gap dates to the 1670s, by Abraham Wood of Virginia. Some time before 1748 Samuel Stalnaker is believed to have passed through the gap while exploring the region. 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

1161-743: The falls of the Appomatox River. It supposedly marked the legal frontier between the white settlers and the Native Americans, as well as defended both the settlers on the south side of the James River (about 20 miles north of the Appomattox River). The fort also provided protection for the native Appomattoc tribe which had grain fields and fished in the Appomattox River near the falls, with whom Wood traded. From 1646 until around 1691, it became

1204-593: The first English expeditions to reach the southern Appalachian Mountains . In 1671, explorers Thomas Wood, Thomas Batts (Batte) and Robert Fallam reached the New River Valley and the New River . "Batts was a grandson of Robert Batts, vicar master of University College, Oxford, and possible relation to Nathaniel Batts , first permanent settler in North Carolina and Governor of Roanoke Island . Nathaniel by 1655 had

1247-524: The first colonialists to travel in this area. Martin's son, Revolutionary War officer Colonel William Martin, described the naming of the area and river in a letter to historian Lyman Draper , A treaty with the Cherokees was held at Fort Chiswell on New River , then a frontier. On the return of the chiefs home, Dr. [Thomas] Walker, a gentleman of distinction, and my father, [General] Joseph Martin, accompanied them. The Indians being guides, they passed through

1290-453: The fort for three years. Thus Wood, who both commanded the fort and privately owned the adjoining land and trading post, a considerable advantage over his competitors in the "Indian trade". Wood represented Henrico County in the House of Burgesses from 1644 to 1646, then Charles City County from 1652 and 1656. He was a justice of Charles City County in 1655. Also in 1655, he was appointed to

1333-488: 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 European-American settlers passed through the gap on their way into Kentucky and

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1376-482: The lower Appomattox River in the 1630s. by which time he had turned to exploring the colony's interior and traded for the beaver and deerskin with the native tribes. Upon being expelled from their villages at Bermuda Hundred and Swift Creek, natives had established a village near the falls of the Appomattox River, which would much later would become part of Petersburg . Natives revolted in 1644. Virginia colonists responded in part by building Fort Henry in 1646 at

1419-399: The only point in Virginia where Native Americans could legally cross eastward into white territory, or whites westward into Native American territory. Soon after its construction, Wood commanded a garrison of 30 from the surrounding counties. Colonists thought the tax burden too great, so the government allowed the fort and 600 acres of land to be sold to Wood, who agreed to keep 10 armed men at

1462-583: The park on the website eBird . The gap has been mentioned in many songs and is the title of many, including: Thomas Walker (explorer) Thomas Walker (January 25, 1715 – November 9, 1794) was a physician, planter and explorer in colonial Virginia who served multiple terms in the Virginia General Assembly , and whose descendants also had political careers. Walker explored the Western Colony of Virginia (present-day Kentucky ) in 1750,

1505-454: The place now called Cumberland Gap, where they discovered a fine spring. They still had a little rum remaining, and they drank to the health of the Duke of Cumberland . This gave rise to the name of Cumberland Mountain and Cumberland River . At age 64, Walker again traveled to the western areas of what is now Kentucky and Tennessee; he had been commissioned to survey the border between westward of

1548-523: The present-day borders of West Virginia . In 1673 Wood sent his friend James Needham and his indentured servant Gabriel Arthur on an expedition to find an outlet to the Pacific Ocean . Shortly after their departure Needham and Arthur encountered a group of Tomahitan Native Americans, who offered to conduct the men to their town across the mountains. After reaching the Tomahitan town, Needham returned to Fort Henry to report to Wood. While en route back to

1591-593: The rocks. . 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 mi (6.0 km) diameter meteorite impact crater with the city of Middlesboro, Kentucky built entirely inside it. Detailed mapping by geologists in

1634-584: 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

1677-406: The soon-to be formed Albemarle County from her late husband's estate. The couple built a home known as Castle Hill and had 12 children. They in turn would later become prominent Albemarle County citizens in their own right. Two of Walker's sons, John and Francis Walker , became U.S. Congressmen. After the death of his first wife, in 1781 Walker married Elizabeth Thornton. In April 1744, Walker

1720-496: The trail that Boone and his men built had been widened to accommodate wagon traffic and became known as the Wilderness Road . Several American Civil War engagements occurred in and around the Cumberland Gap and are known as the 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

1763-508: Was added to Thomas Walker High School in 1971. The Rose Hill District is made up of two towns, Rose Hill and Ewing. Abraham Wood Abraham Wood (1610–1682), sometimes referred to as "General" or "Colonel" Wood, was an English fur trader , militia officer, politician and explorer of 17th century colonial Virginia . Wood helped build and maintained Fort Henry at the falls of the Appomattox in present-day Petersburg . He also served in

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1806-706: Was appointed colonel of a militia regiment in Henrico and Charles City counties in 1655. Later, he was appointed major general but lost this position in 1676 after Bacon's Rebellion either because of infirmity or political differences with Governor William Berkeley . Bacon's rebel forces attacked the Appomattoc Indians on both sides of the river, killed many and dispersed the rest, after burning their town. By 1670 Wood had relinquished his trading post to his son-in-law, Peter Jones, for whom Petersburg, Virginia would eventually be named, and in 1675 Jones became commander of

1849-505: Was elected as vestryman at his church, a position he held for more than forty years, until 1785. He also served Virginia as a delegate to the House of Burgesses many times, first from Louisa County , then newly formed Hampshire County in the Appalachian region, and finally from Albemarle County. Walker also became a trustee of the newly formed town of Charlottesville . Around 1742, Walker several English Foxhounds to Keswick , which

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