Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

A Gap Not to Overlook

Cumberland Gap is a pass through the Appalachian highlands near the border of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.  The gap was discovered by Thomas Walker in 1750, but it was Daniel Boone who in 1775 marked the trail the pioneers would follow as they headed west.

Historian Frederick Jackson Turner,  whose Turner Thesis explained westward migration, said, “Stand at Cumberland Gap and watch the procession of civilization, marching single file---the buffalo following the trail to the salt springs, the Indian, the fur-trader and hunter, the cattle-raiser, the pioneer farmer---and the frontier has passed by.”

Native Americans following paths marked by bison and deer created the Warrior’s Path that led south from the Potomac River through the gap and north to Ohio.  When European settlers first discovered the trail it was said to be strewn with the bleached bones of the enemies of the raiding parties from the five tribes who fought for control of the area: Cherokee, Miami, Shawnee, Delaware and Wyandot.  The first white man through the gap was Dr. Thomas Walker who, after discovering this passage through the Appalachians, named it in honor of the Duke of Cumberland, son of King George II.  But it was Daniel Boone, with 30 men, who marked it and created the Wilderness Road in 1775. The narrow winding 208-mile-footpath Boone created took pioneers six to eight months to travel. After crossing through the gap, there were three options: trails led to what would become Boonesboro, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee; and Louisville, Kentucky.

During the American Revolution, Great Britain enlisted help from the indigenous tribes to keep pioneers from moving west.  But from 1775 through 1796, the gap was crossed by between 200,000 and 300,000 settlers.  The westward groups often met farmers driving herds of livestock heading east.

In the 1820s and 1830s new routes to the west supplanted the route through Cumberland Gap.  The National Road, a 1796 wagon road that extended north of the Ohio River was an easier route.  The Chesapeake and Ohio Canals, the Pennsylvania Main Line and the Erie Canal.  Steamboats also plied the Mississippi carrying settlers westward.

During the Civil War, Cumberland Gap was a strategic point dividing North and South---it was called the Gibraltar of America and the Keystone of the Confederacy.  Union troops under Brigadier General Robert L. McCook built Fort McCook (earthworks of their fort can be seen from the park’s Pinnacle Overlook).  It proved too difficult to provision the fort and McCook evacuated his men.  The Confederates soon occupied the fort, renaming it Fort Rains.  Over three years the fort changed hands four times, with occupying troops never managing to maintain a defensive position due to supplying difficulties.  The invasion that both sides feared might come through the gap never materialized.

The 1860s were the military years, while the 1870s heralded the industrial years.  In 1875 coal, iron and timber were reported to be abundantly available in the Cumberland Gap area.  A railroad was built and the “Industrial Boom” of the early 1880s began.    Local fires, bank failures and other unexpected setbacks heralded the end of the economic growth and it wasn’t until the early 1900s when roads began to open the gap to traffic that the area began recovering.

The visitor center for this 20,279 acre park, the nation’s largest National Historical Park, is on the Kentucky side of the park (just to the south of the park is Tennessee).  Exhibits and displays at the center, open daily 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (except Christmas, New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King’s Birthday and President’s Day), detail the history of Cumberland Gap.  An audio- interpreted diorama reveals Daniel Boone and his crew blazing the Wilderness Road.  On his exploration of the gap, Boone said, “I can’t say as ever I was lost, but I was bewildered once, for three days.”  At the center you can view two short videos on the history of the park and on Hensley Settlement.

You can hike to the early 20th century Hensley Settlement by taking the 3.5 mile Chadwell Gap trail up the mountain from Caylor, Va., or during the summer months by park shuttle (reservations can be made up to a week in advance by calling, (606) 248-2817).  The Hensleys and their relatives, the Gibbons, moved to Brush Mountain, northeast of the gap, in 1903.  They built log houses on their mountaintop and lived without modern conveniences.  The last family member left this rural Appalachia community in 1951. 

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park has restored three farmsteads at Hensely Settlement.  You’ll see houses, barns, fences and farm and pasture land.  Also restored  is a one-room schoolhouse, where all the grades were taught by one teacher.  Students had to haul water from the well and bring in coal and wood for the pot-bellied stove.  There was no church in the settlement but services were held in the schoolhouse by preachers of various denominations.  During the time the Hensleys and Gibbons lived here, there were no roads to the settlement.  Access was by foot, horseback or mule-drawn sleds.

The best spot to gain an overview of the park is from the Pinnacle Overlook.  Getting to this high ground reinforces the concept that pioneers desperately needed a route through the mountains, rather than a trail over them.  After parking, you’ll see a bronze relief mural of the pioneers trekking through Cumberland Gap.  A short walk along the paved Overlook Trail will bring you to the stone overlook platform.   A map will indicate Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, the town of Cumberland Gap and the city of Middlesboro.

There are more than 50 miles of park trails.  The 21-mile Ridge Trail is the longest; it is of medium difficulty and runs the length of the park.  A spur off Ridge Trail leads to Sand Cave, located in the White Rocks on top Cumberland Mountain.  This is not literally a cave, but rather an enormous opening 150 feet wide and 40 feet high.  Sand is deposited in this opening which extends 160 feet into the mountain.  The ceiling is of gold, red and green shades of rock.   The easy Tri-state Peak Trail lets you stand in three states at the same time.

The park plans restoration work at Cudjo’s Caverns, located beneath Pinnacle Overlook on the east side of Route 25E.  These caverns boast the tallest stalagmite in the world and the many cavern chambers have fascinating formation.  When this work is complete the caverns will reopen. 

The park has five backcountry campsites and the 160-site Wilderness Road Campground.  There is also Martin’s Fork Cabin, a one-room primitive cabin with six board bunks and a fireplace, call (606) 248-2817 for reservations. 

Directions: Follow I-81 to Morristown, Tennessee.  At Morristown take Route 25E north to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.

 

Guest River Gorge

Newly Accessible Scenic Splendor

Driving through the rugged mountains of southwest Virginia only hints at the beauty that exists within this forested wilderness.  Much of it remains inaccessible, but a new six-mile section of the Guest River Gorge can now be explored.  Although much of the land in and around the gorge remains in private hands, the Norfolk Southern Railroad donated an abandoned railroad bed along this state scenic river to the Jefferson National Forest in 1991 (see selection).

It is a 5 ½ mile hike from the trailhead through the Guest River Gorge to the confluence of Clinch River. The walk through the scenic hardwood forested gorge fully merits your efforts.  Rushing rapids and waterfalls mark the river’s passage between the high cliffs and bluffs.

The gorge trail provides access to hikers, fishermen, kayakers and canoeists.  The Guest River is rated a challenging Level 5, in terms of difficulty.  Frequently caught fish include smallmouth bass, crappie and bluegill.  Future development will include wildlife viewing sites along the trail, but those interested in hunting and trapping must do it outside the gorge on National Forest land.  While this area is breathtaking year-round, it is particularly splendid in the autumn when the foliage turns and the shape of the rocky cliffs can be more clearly discerned.  In early June the mountain laurel blooms, followed by the delicate blossoms of the rhododendrons growing in profusion on the hillsides.

Eventually there will be three locations from which to gain access to the Guest River Gorge Trail; only the northern access point near Coeburn is currently in place.  There will also be a southern access point at the trail’s end near the Clinch River in Scott County and at Crab Orchard Creek off Route 661.  On the drawing boards are visitor facilities at the northern and southern access points with picnic areas, restrooms and an information center where you can obtain a self-guided nature interpretative brochure. 

Opening the Guest River Trail, which can be reached from Route 72, is just the first step in the plans to make this area accessible.  In addition to the more than 540 acres of private land already acquired, additional property will be obtained to provide alternative trailheads.  Long-range plans anticipate a hands-on environmental museum along the Guest River Gorge entrance road.

Nature lovers may also want to hike the Pinnacle Natural Area Preserve, a 68-acre preserve along Big Cedar Creek and the Clinch River.  This preserve’s namesake is a towering rock formation that stands 600 feet above Big Cedar Creek.  The lush forested hillsides support a wide variety of wildflowers and ferns, while the two bodies of water, both part of the state scenic rivers system, flow through the preserve to create rapids and breathtaking waterfalls.  Visitors are welcome to hike the preserve’s trails from dawn to dusk.

Directions: From I-81 take the Abingdon exit and travel west on Route 19/Alt 58 to Coeburn.  At Coeburn head south on Route 72 to the sign indicating the Guest River Gorge Road, part of Jefferson National Forest.  For Pinnacle Natural Area Preserve, when Route 19 splits, remain on that and travel north to Lebanon.  Then bear left on Route 82, right on Route 640 and left again on Route 721 for the start of hiking trails in the preserve.

 

Historic Crab Orchard Museum and Pioneer Park

Life on the Appalachian Frontier

Europeans occasionally disparage American history, because by their standards, it is all so recent.  These critics could not find fault with Historic Crab Orchard Museum because history here is interpreted from 570,000,000 years ago to modern times.  The museum and Pioneer Park are located on a portion of a 110-acre prehistoric archeological site.

Documented evidence indicates that Native Americans lived here 1,200 years ago, and many archeologists believe it may have been as much as 14,000 years.  The museum’s exhibits of fossils from this prehistoric period include the leg bone and teeth of a huge mastodon that foraged here millions of years ago.  There is also a casting of a 300-million-year-old lepidodendron tree, unearthed as it was showing signs of turning to coal.

The region’s first prehistoric inhabitants arrived from Asia by crossing the Bering Straits.  The Cherokees, the last of the Native Americans to have settlements in this part of southwest Virginia, were forced out by warring Shawnees and European pioneers.  Pottery, hunting, cooking and trade items from the Cherokee period are exhibited in the museum and there is a diorama of their settlement on this site.  One fascinating piece is a Woodland Period stone effigy, circa 1550.

The first English explorers crossed the mountains into this part of Virginia in the late 1600s.  Diary entries indicate that it rained continually during their passage over the Allegheny range and they mistakingly believed the rivers and fog-shrouded plains they saw west of the mountains were the tidal waters of the Pacific Ocean.  The ocean was the original western boundary of Virginia.

Gradually permanent settlers moved into the region from the colonies of Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina and from eastern Virginia.  There were formal land surveys and large tracts of land were granted; one recipient was Patrick Henry (see Red Hill selection).  The museum has agricultural tools and household items from these early pioneers. But in its Pioneer Park, their way of life comes alive.  Thirteen historic log and stone buildings bring back the 1830s.  The Thompson Valley farmhouse has three buildings connected by a breezeway, or dogtrot.  Inside you will see a spinning wheel and spartan furnishings. In addition to the living quarters there is a kitchen and lard house.  The latter was used to store salted meats, lard, pickled foods and preserves.

Other buildings include Major David Peery’s 1805 log home.  It is obvious he was financially secure as his windows have six panes of glass, meaning he was willing to pay the special tax on windows with more than four panes.   The park also has a blacksmith shop, smokehouse, hunter’s cabin, carpenter and cobbler’s shop, apple house, loom house and corncribs.  Its largest reconstruction is an 1880 log farmstead.

 Fields and gardens typical of the frontier era are planted in season and tended by hand.  Of special note are trees replanted from the birthplaces of historic figures: Robert E. Lee, George Washington, Cyrus McCormick and Helen Keller.  Near the loom house is a fenced herb garden; a pamphlet lists the early 19th-century varieties you will see growing and gives their medicinal use.  Herbs include sage, lemon balm, oregano, lavender, jasmine, thyme, horehound, rue, chives, bee balm, sorrel, lamb’s ear, germander, tansy, lovage and comfrey.

There is also a horse-drawn equipment barn that has one of only two known original McCormick reapers made near Staunton (see McCormick Farm selection), along with later, more mechanized models. The barn also has buggies, a flax brake, dog-powered treadmill, pony cart and a wide array of agricultural equipment.  A 1917 Model T Ford is a frequent participant in local parades. Near the old Ford is a gravity-operated gasoline “pump.”

Agricultural pursuits are explored in Pioneer Park, but the concurrent industrialization of the country is explored in the museum.  Exhibits focus on the coal mining that was significant to this region.  Finally, the museum is noted for its diverse collection of weapons.  Swords, sabers, matchlock rifles, blunderbusses, flintlocks and more up-to-date martial gear are displayed.

Historic Crab Orchard Museum and Pioneer Park are open year round weekdays and Saturdays 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. and Sundays 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.  They are closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day plus Sundays and Mondays from November through March.  Admission is charged.  There is a museum shop with crafts, arts, recordings, books and toys.  You can purchase refreshments and there is a picnic shelter on the grounds.  For additional information call (540) 988-6755.

Directions: From I-81 at Abingdon take Alt. 58 west, then Route 19 north.  Just before Tazewell you  will see the museum and park on your right off Route 19/460.  An alternative route is to take the I-77 Bluefield exit off I-81 and head west on Route 52, then proceed south on Route 19/460.

 

Natural Tunnel State Park

Hats Off to Mother Nature

Local enthusiasts claim that “the Natural Bridge is a slice of bread, while the Natural Tunnel is the whole loaf.”  It is likely that Daniel Boone, while blazing the Wilderness Trail, was the first nonindigenous explorer to see the tunnel.  It wasn’t, however, until 1832, a year after Lt. Col. Stephen H. Long explored the site, that it was publicized. William Jennings Bryan called it the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” 

This wonder was formed over a million years ago during the early glacial period when carbonic acid in the groundwater flowed through crevices and slowly dissolved the limestone and dolomite bedrock.  Then the flowing water, now called Stock Creek, was likely diverted underground where for centuries it continued to carve out the 850-foot-long tunnel.  Fossils have been discovered in the creek bed and embedded in the tunnel walls.  The tunnel exits in a deep, semicircular basin with walls rising over 400 feet.

During the Civil War, land around the tunnel was mined for saltpeter, an essential ingredient in making gunpowder.  Then in 1890, the South Atlantic and Ohio Railroad laid railroad tracks through the tunnel.  When the Southern Railroad acquired the tracks in 1906, they opened a passenger line.  As many as  ten coal and freight trains travel through the tunnel each day.

In 1967, after acquiring the tunnel and 143 acres, the state established Natural Tunnel State Park. Subsequently, Virginia acquired 500 additional acres and the park opened in 1971.  Stop at the visitor center when you arrive at the park to see the exhibits that provide additional details on the tunnel’s formation and the history of the region.  You can also obtain information on the park’s seven hiking trails.  Trails lead to the tunnel floor, to Lover’s Leap, Tunnel Hill and Gorge Ridge.  A 500-foot boardwalk, accessible for the physically challenged, leads from the visitor center to an observation deck overlooking the gorge. 

Southwest Virginia Museum and The Harry W. Meador, Jr. Coal Museum

The Story of Big Stone Gap

Stories about Virginia’s rugged southwest mountain region extend back well before it was explored for the Ohio Land Company of Virginia in 1750.  The land was a much-sought-after Native American hunting ground with disparate tribes vying for control.  Between 1671 and 1685, the Cherokees succeeded in driving out the Xulans before being displaced themselves by the Confederacy of Six-Nations.  Warring parties of Cherokees and Shawnees continued to contest the area; this strife deterred European settlement.  The high, steep mountain terrain with its deep gorges was not hospitable to agriculture so those settlers who eventually ventured into the area were primarily hunters.

It wasn’t until the discovery of bituminous coal in 1879 that the region realized any significant economic prosperity.  To haul coal and lumber two railroads, the Louisville and Nashville and the South Atlantic and Ohio railroads, developed lines that extended to Big Stone Gap. One of the most significant towns to grow up along the tracks was Big Stone Gap.  The early and boom years of the coal rush are explored in Southwest Virginia Museum’s main gallery.   Attention is given to what was the crowning moment of the boom years, the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, who were considering investing in the region’s iron ore.  This was the height of the drive to make this community the “Pittsburgh of the South,” but the fact that the iron ore was not of the quality needed and the country-wide Panic of 1893 ended the dream.  But not before this mining revolution brought hotels, banks, schools, a newspaper and a number of impressive Victorian houses in the section of town called Poplar Hill.

The museum is located in one of these houses, built in the 1880s by Rufus Ayers, who owned iron and coal mines in the area.  Ayers served as Attorney General of Virginia from 1886 to 1890.  It took seven years to build this limestone and sandstone mansion; no expensive was spared.  You’ll note that the floor boards were laid thin side up, making an interesting pattern and indicating an availability of lumber unheard of in other areas.  The house was eventually purchased by C. Bascom Slemp, VMI graduate,  eight times member of the U.S. Congress and the private secretary to President Calvin Coolidge.  Slemp wanted a museum in the house that would depict life in southwest Virginia.  The collection amassed by Slemp and his sister, Jane, form the nucleus of the museum’s exhibits.

The mansion’s second floor has galleries that tell the story of Big Stone Gap residents at the turn of the century.  One way this mountain region stayed in touch with current fashion was through mail order catalog.  The Sears catalog which, as you can see in the exhibit, grew from one page in 1872 to 1,036 pages in 1899, kept residents supplied with the latest merchandise.   A selection of these items is displayed: a sewing machine, baby carriage, gold clubs, sled, fan and gramophone as well as clothes and personal memorabilia.  There are many items associated with C. Bascom Slemp, including those he acquired during his travels.

The third floor galleries move back in time to early exploration and settlement.  You’ll learn about the Wilderness Road that Daniel Boone blazed through the Cumberland Gap (see Cumberland Gap National Historical Park).  Less well-known was Dr. Thomas Walker, who explored a passageway through the Western Appalachians.  Native American artifacts, hunting rifles, settlers tools, a Conestoga wagon, basic household items, quilt patterns and a multitude of other exhibits tell the story of the early days.

The Southwest Virginia Museum is open Memorial Day to Labor Day, Monday through Thursday 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Friday 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Saturday 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. and Sunday 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.  At other times of the year, the museum is closed on Monday as well as major holidays.  It is closed entirely during January and February.  Admission is charged.  The museum has a shop with Victorian-era items as well as locally made crafts.

Smithfield Plantation and The Long Way Home

Mountain Laurels

In their brave hope of extending Virginia's boundaries beyond the Blue Ridge, a band of early settlers carved out homesteads in the Native American-dominated wilderness of what is now southwest Virginia in 1748.  On July 30, 1755, the Shawnee Indians, who had heretofore ignored the vanguard of white settlers, attacked and massacred all but a few of the valley families.  Two that survived were the Pattons and the Ingles.

Colonel James Patton, who had been given a Crown Grant of 120,000 acres in 1745, headed the valley's militia.  A widower, aged 63, he took the responsibility of guarding the valley very seriously.  When the French and Indian War began, George Washington stopped in the New River Valley to warn him of the war's potential danger to the settlers.  As Washington had foreseen, the war did come to the valley.  Colonel Patton died during an attack by indigenous tribes.  The Ingles family, who farmed a small homestead on land they had purchased from Colonel Patton, were also grievously affected.

Mary Draper Ingles's mother, Eleanor, who years earlier had lost her husband to marauding Braves, was killed in the massacre.  Mary Ingles, 23, and her two boys, age two and four, were abducted by the Shawnees (also abducted was her sister-in-law Bettie Draper).  They were forced to walk hundreds of miles to the tribal camp near what is now Cincinnati, Ohio.  During their trek Mary bore a daughter.  After months of captivity Mary escaped with an elderly Dutch woman.  Following the Ohio River, they made their way back across 850 miles of uncharted wilderness before Mary Ingles finally rejoined her husband and brother.

This dramatic story is re-created each summer in the outdoor dramatization, The Long Way Home.  It is performed in an amphitheater beside the Ingles Homestead in Radford, Thursday through Sunday at 8:30 P.M.  For many years the role of Elenor Draper was played by her great-great-great-great granddaughter, Mary Ingles Jeffries.  Reviewers of outdoor drama give high marks to this stirring production.  In addition to seeing the performance visitors can tour the amphitheater and a part of the Wilderness Road. For ticket information call (540) 639-0679 or write The Long Way Home, P.O. Box 711, Radford, VA 24141.  The novel, Follow the River, by James Alexander Thom, also tells the story of Mary's kidnapping and her 42-day walk to freedom.

Despite the adversity, the Ingleses did not abandon the Virginia frontier although they did for a time move to a protective fort before returning to the New River Valley.  Neither did the Patton-Preston family.  From 1772 to 1774, James Patton's nephew, William Preston, who had been visiting in the New River Valley at the time of the massacre and narrowly escaped death himself, built a story-and-a-half white frame  house he called Smithfield after his wife, Susanna Smith.  Preston represented the area in the Virginia House of Burgesses and was County Surveyor, County Lieutenant, Colonel of the Militia (like his uncle) and a member of the Committee of Safety.

The Smithfield Plantation in Blacksburg is no rough country house; it is furnished in a style William Preston copied from Williamsburg.  The drawing room fireplace duplicates the one that can be seen in Raleigh Tavern (see Williamsburg Tavern selection).  In this formal room you'll also see a copy of the Gilbert Stuart portrait of James Patton Preston.  One of William and Susanna's 12 children became governor of Virginia (1816-1819).  Several terms later James's son-in-law, John Floyd, Jr. became governor (1830-1852).  Another grandson, James McDowell, also served as governor (1843-1846) but unlike the others he never lived at Smithfield.