During the last quarter of the eighteenth century and the first decade of the nineteenth century, the Cumberland Gap, a natural pass through the high southern Appalachian Mountains, became one of the most important passages for the mass migration to the early American West, to the Ohio River valley in Kentucky. and Tennessee.

From the first permanent English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 until the mid-1700s, European settlers were content to occupy the narrow strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern slopes of the Appalachians.

However, the culmination of the French and Indian War and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763 resulted in the transfer to Great Britain of millions of acres of land previously claimed by the French.

Although King George III’s Proclamation of 1763 prohibited colonial settlement in lands west of the crest of the Appalachians, land-hungry frontiersmen immediately turned their eyes to the setting sun.

Thomas Walker (1715-1794), a Virginia-born physician and agent of the Loyal Company, a colonial land speculation enterprise, was among the first to explore the southern portion of the Appalachians along the present-day Tennessee-Kentucky-Virginia border. .

In April 1750, Walker and a few friends discovered what became known as the Cumberland Gap, an easy pass through the mountains.

Into the void, King II. It was named in honor of George’s second son, the Duke of Cumberland.

Nearly 20 years later, Daniel Boone passed through this gap while exploring the area.

Just before Richard Henderson’s treaty with the Cherokee Indians at Sycamore Shoals in March 1775—an enterprise that earned Henderson several million acres of Kentucky and Tennessee land that formed the basis of his Transylvania Company—Boone recruited 30 people to assist him. It was founded together with the axeman. He moved westward, carving a path from Long Island (present-day Kingsport, Tennessee) of the Holston River to bluegrass country Kentucky, where he founded Boonesborough. Originally called Boone’s Trace, it later became known as the Wilderness Trail.

Between 1776 and 1810, an estimated two to three hundred thousand immigrants passed through the Cumberland Gap on their way from eastern settlements to the fertile lands of Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Ohio River valley. Kentucky (in 1792) and Tennessee (in 1796) became states of the Union.

By 1800, the Wilderness Road, now improved to accommodate wagons and other wheeled vehicles, also began to see eastbound traffic, primarily corn whiskey, livestock, and turkey, divert to seaside markets.

Traffic decreased along the Wilderness Road in the early to mid-1800s as eastern canals, improved roads, and railroads gradually filled the countryside.

Although considered a strategic location by both the Union and Confederate high commands during the Civil War (General Ulysses S. Grant called it “America’s Gibraltar), Cumberland Gap and the surrounding area saw little action during the conflict.

In 1940, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park was authorized by Congress and finally became a reality in 1955.

Located just a few miles east of Cumberland Gap, Virginia’s Wilderness Road State Park includes a full-scale reconstruction of Martin Station.

The original structure was built by Dr. It was located on a large land grant belonging to Joseph Martin, Walker’s protégé and one of the first explorers in the area. Martin first visited the area in 1769 but was driven away by hostile Indians.

He returned with others in 1775 and built his fort, which became an important way station for travelers on the Wilderness Road.

Door to the West It is one of David Wright’s most magnificent pieces. This painting was specially commissioned to hang in the Visitor Center at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. Wright is recognized as one of America’s most distinguished frontier artists.

His great interest and knowledge of the pioneer period led him to produce numerous paintings depicting life in those early years of our country.

David is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2007 “Harrison Eiteljorg Acquisition Award” and the 2008 “Victor Higgins Best Individual Work of Distinction” from both the Eiteljorg Museum of the American Indian and Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana.

James A. Crutchfield can be reached at [email protected].