On Paula Drive (County Road 190) just west of U.S. 25E, on the right when traveling west.
Dr. Thomas Walker and 5 companions.
employed by the Loyal Land Company, came
into this region April 14, 1750, to locate
lands for settlement in these western reaches
of Virginia. His 1750 journal relates that
he established a camp at this spot . . . — — Map (db m159751) HM
On State Highway 190 at U.S. 25E, on the right when traveling east on State Highway 190.
Rev. Hiram M. Frakes founded this Methodist Settlement in 1925. Begun in a cabin with 13 students, it became an institution for spiritual and educational development of mountain youth. Frakes guided and influenced the entire Middle Laurel Fork . . . — — Map (db m162490) HM
Near Pinnacle Road, on the right when traveling east.
"Cumberland Gap is the strongest position I have ever seen except Gibraltar." These were Union General George W. Morgan's words after viewing the fortification around the Gap. On June 19, 1862, he wrote to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, "The . . . — — Map (db m207707) HM
Near Old Wilderness Road (Kentucky Route 988) at Pinnacle View Road, on the right when traveling north.
During the Civil War, Cumberland Gap was held alternately by Union and CSA armies. USA forces under Gen. George W. Morgan occupied it June 18 to Sept. 17, 1862. Cut off from supplies and surrounded, Morgan with 9,000 men retreated successfully to . . . — — Map (db m50230) HM
Near Sugar Run Overlook Road (Kentucky Route 988).
The next half-mile of trail follows the 1907 roadbed of an "Object Lesson Road." Early in the 20th century, most rural roads, especially here in the Appalachians, were little better than in the days of Daniel Boone. The U.S. Department of . . . — — Map (db m207716) HM
Near Sugar Run Overlook Road (Kentucky Route 988).
The trail ahead follows the 1907 roadbed of an Object Lesson Road. Early in the 20th century, most rural roads, especially here in the Appalachians, were little better than in the days of Daniel Boone. The U.S. Department of Agriculture sponsored . . . — — Map (db m207717) HM
On North 24th Street at Gloucester Avenue, on the right when traveling north on North 24th Street.
Grave of Colonel Arthur Campbell (1743-1811). Statesman, revolutionary soldier, justice, legislator, county lieutenant. Sons, James and John killed in War of 1812. — — Map (db m57938) HM
Near Bartlett Park Road, 0.4 miles south of Pinnacle View Road, on the right when traveling south.
Some of today's Cumberland Gap National Historical Park was created from land where homes, fields, and community buildings once stood. The view from here has changed dramatically over the past century.
Bartlett-Rhodes Park, named for two . . . — — Map (db m205050) HM
Near Old Wilderness Road (Kentucky Route 988) at Pinnacle View Road, on the right when traveling north.
(side 1)
Cumberland Gap
Providing a viable transportation route through the rugged terrain of the Appalachian Mountains, the Cumberland Gap was valued by both Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Along with the East . . . — — Map (db m181079) HM
Near Pinnacle Road, on the right when traveling east. Reported permanently removed.
During the Civil War this earthwork - called Fort Rains by the Confederates and Fort McCook by the Federals - was one of many fortifications ringing Cumberland Gap. These defenses were considered too formidable to be taken by direct assault, which . . . — — Map (db m207773) HM
On Pinnacle View Road, 1.7 miles east of Kentucky Route 988. Reported missing.
Where you see a picnic ground today, imagine a seven-sided structure made of earth and wooden walls, approximately 40 feet by 70 feet. The outer walls of this Civil War fort were approximately five feet high with an earth-covered powder magazine . . . — — Map (db m88656) HM
Near Pinnacle View Road, 1.7 miles east of Old Wilderness Road (Kentucky Route 988), on the left when traveling east.
Where you see a picnic ground today, imagine a Civil War fort the size of four football fields side-by-side atop this knoll. The outer walls, made of packed earth faced with logs, rose 10 feet high. Like the other batteries, forts, and rifle pits . . . — — Map (db m205085) HM
Near Pinnacle View Road, 1.1 miles east of Old Wilderness Road (Kentucky Route 988), on the right when traveling east.
At daybreak skirmishing parties of the enemy opened fire...from the adjacent hills....Minie balls are falling within our works. I have no artillery. The snow is falling thickly and the morning is dark. Our men are in the trenches....One man is . . . — — Map (db m207772) HM
On Pinnacle Road, on the right when traveling east.
For travelers who had to walk, the Appalachian mountains seemed like an impenetrable wall, 600 miles long and 150 miles wide. Here at Cumberland Gap you could find both a good way in and a good way out of that rugged labyrinth of ridges, coves, . . . — — Map (db m35880) HM
On Pinnacle View Road, 2.5 miles east of Old Wilderness Road (Kentucky Route 988), in the median.
For travelers who had to walk, the Appalachian mountains seemed like an impenetrable wall, 600 miles long and 150 miles wide. Here at Cumberland Gap you could find both a good way in and a good way out of that rugged labyrinth of ridges, coves, . . . — — Map (db m205056) HM
On Pinnacle View Road, 2.5 miles east of Old Wilderness Road (Kentucky Route 988), in the median.
For travelers who had to walk, the Appalachian mountains seemed like an impenetrable wall, 600 miles long and 150 miles wide. Here at Cumberland Gap you could find both a good way in and a good way out of that rugged labyrinth of ridges, . . . — — Map (db m205084) HM
Near Pinnacle Road, on the right when traveling east. Reported permanently removed.
For the North, Cumberland Gap was a natural invasion route into the South - providing access to vulnerable railroads and valuable minerals and salt works in East Tennessee and southwest Virginia. For the South, the Gap was a gateway for an . . . — — Map (db m207774) HM
On Wilderness Road Trail, on the left when traveling west.
The long crater you see here is all that remains of the Union warehouse that stood here in 1862. Advancing Confederates had to wait 18 hours as scattered munitions continued to explode unexpectedly. By then the once-surrounded Union garrison of . . . — — Map (db m177860) HM
Meriwether Lewis, coleader of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, with a party of Expedition veterans and a Mandan Indian delegation, went through Cumberland Gap in Nov. 1806 en route to Washington to report on the expedition. Over.
Cumberland . . . — — Map (db m33299) HM
On Cirencester Avenue at North 28th Street, on the right when traveling west on Cirencester Avenue.
Founded 1889, this nine-hole golf course is claimed to be the oldest continuously played course in the United States. This semi-private club today has a pro-shop, concessions, and club and cart rentals. — — Map (db m181084) HM
Near North 28th Street, 0.2 miles north of Cirencester Avenue, on the left when traveling north.
One of the oldest in US, founded 1889. The present nine-hole course located on site where original was laid out by the English developers who came 1886 and brought the golf game to this mountain region. In 1899, a financial crash in England took . . . — — Map (db m181083) HM
On 12th Street (U.S. 25E), on the right when traveling north.
Designated by the Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists as a Distinguished Geological Site. Middlesboro is one of only a few cities on the North American Continent located in the basin of a meteorite impact structure.
Sometime over the . . . — — Map (db m33296) HM
On North 20th Street south of Lothbury Avenue, on the right when traveling south.
English colony founded in 1886 by Alexander Arthur. Project financed by English company, the American Association, because of timber and rich mineral deposits here. Almost 100,000 mountainous acres in Va., Tenn., and Ky. purchased for the . . . — — Map (db m33297) HM
Alexander Arthur, 1846-1912, an outstanding figure in history of Middlesboro. He came here in 1885 to prospect, discovering coal and iron ore deposits. President of American Association, formed to carry out his plans for a mining and manufacturing . . . — — Map (db m33298) HM
On 19th Street (Route 2079) at Hurst Road, on the right when traveling north on 19th Street.
Built about 1800 in Yellow Creek Valley, the second brick house in the county, and the oldest one still standing. The bricks were made from clay by slave labor. Home of Rev. John Calvin Colson, "Patriarch of Yellow Creek Valley," preacher, teacher, . . . — — Map (db m181081) HM
The impressive turreted building of the New South Brewery and Ice Company once stood in front of you. Manager William Wallbrecht and brewmaster Mr. Kumli employed dozens of area men to brew beer here. Their leading brands included Pinnacle, Crystal . . . — — Map (db m207778) HM
On Pinnacle Road, on the right when traveling east.
We started just as the sun began to gild the tops of the high mountains. We ascended Cumberland Mountain, from the top of which the bright luminary of the day appeared to our view in all his rising glory; the mists dispersed and the floating . . . — — Map (db m190762) HM
Near Pinnacle View Road, 2.5 miles east of Old Wilderness Road (Kentucky Route 988), in the median.
We started just as the sun began to gild the tops of the high mountains. We ascended Cumberland Mountain, from the top of which the bright luminary of day appeared to our view in all his rising glory; the mists dispersed and the floating clouds . . . — — Map (db m205083) HM
On Englewood Road, 0.2 miles west of North 20th Street, on the left when traveling west.
This is one of the finest examples of Carpenter Gothic architecture in the U.S. The cornerstone was laid in 1890 and the church was dedicated on February 11, 1891. The design is based o blueprints of St. Mary's Church in Middlesborough, England. . . . — — Map (db m181082) HM
On U.S. 25 East, on the right when traveling east.
We went four miles to a large Creek, which we called Cedar Creek,
being a Branch of Bear-Grass, and from thence Six miles to
Cave Gap, the land being Levil. On the North side of the Gap is a
large Spring, which falls, very fast, and just above . . . — — Map (db m210486) HM
On Pinnacle Road, on the right when traveling east.
Cumberland Gap, the break in the ridgeline you see ahead, is far more than just a pass through a long, rugged mountain barrier. For a generation of American pioneers this was the gateway from their old lives and limitations out to a frontier . . . — — Map (db m35899) HM
On Sugar Run Overlook Road (Kentucky Route 988), on the right when traveling north.
This area of the park was once home to dozens of people, with several homes and a school. Evidence of families who once lovingly cared for their homes and land is still visible; stone foundations and chimneys survive, daffodils and forsythia bloom . . . — — Map (db m207881) HM
Lee Branham • Stephen M. Fuson • Marty D. Williams • Steve D. Herrell • Joseph D. Herrell • Thomas M. Cadle • Roger L. Brock • Roland M. Daige • William D. Sweat • Carey Duval • Frankie Rush • Roy J. Lowe • Shelby J. Carter • Carrie C. Sutphin • . . . — — Map (db m214828) WM
Near Pinnacle View Road, 1.1 miles east of Old Wilderness Road (Kentucky Route 988), on the right when traveling east.
The flames of [pro-Union] rebellion will flash throughout East Tennessee, the railroad will be destroyed, the bridges burned, and other calamities...will follow. Landon C. Hayes, letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, . . . — — Map (db m205086) HM
On Pinnacle Road, on the right when traveling east.
Two hundred years ago, pioneers poured through Cumberland Gap on their way west to a better life. But not all the traffic on the Wilderness Road was westbound. By the 1820s, drovers pushed huge herds of hogs and smaller herds of cattle and sheep . . . — — Map (db m167001) HM
Near Pinnacle Road, on the right when traveling east. Reported permanently removed.
A natural thoroughfare through the Appalachian Mountain barrier, Cumberland Gap assumed great strategic importance in the Civil War. Both sides sought to control the Gap. It changed hands three times, but no battles were fought. Troops garrisoned . . . — — Map (db m207711) HM
Near Thomas Walker Trail, 0.2 miles east of Pinnacle View Road, on the right when traveling east.
Before trucks and cars in the 1900s, before steam locomotives in the 1800s, before long-hunters' packhorses in the 1700s, there was long-distance traffic crossing the Gap—on foot—going both north and south. No one knows how many centuries Indians . . . — — Map (db m207718) HM
On 12th Street (U.S. 25E) at 14th Street East, on the right when traveling south on 12th Street.
Watts Furnace
Stood ½ mile SW. A pair of blast furnaces built by the Watts Steel and Iron Syndicate, Ltd., 1890-93, and operated until 1898. Each iron shell stack was 75 ft. high with a maximum inner diameter of 17 ft. Using coke fuel and . . . — — Map (db m170830) HM
It will be 100 years or more before Cumberland Gap's restored Wilderness Road trail looks like it did in 1780–1810. The short segment of trail ahead is one of the few places where you can still see the original roadbed, unaltered by the . . . — — Map (db m241292) HM
This memorial is dedicated to the lasting memory of all the men and women who died in defense of the United States of America. dedicated Memorial Day, May 26, 1986
by the people of Bell County. Greater love hath no man than this, that a . . . — — Map (db m214833) WM
Near Chained Rock Road, 4 miles east of 382, on the right when traveling east.
Chained Rock is a boulder formation of Pine Mountain, 2,200 feet above sea level. The Chain, 101 feet long with seen pound links, was carried here by a four-mule team in two trips. It is anchored to the rock with pegs 1½ × 24 inches concreted into . . . — — Map (db m181126) HM
On Bob Madon Bypass (U.S. 25E) at Pine Street (State Highway 66), on the right when traveling west on Bob Madon Bypass.
One of the most important points on the Wilderness Road marked by Daniel Boone in 1775. Ford first used by Indians, then by early explorers and the Long Hunters. After Boone opened the way west, more than 100,000 settlers used the crossing as a . . . — — Map (db m35831) HM
On State Park Road (Kentucky Route 382) west of Chained Rock Road, on the right when traveling north.
On route of Gen. E. Kirby Smith's Confederate invasion of Kentucky, fall 1862, concurrent with that of Bragg to the west. At Richmond Smith defeated USA, then occupied Lexington, Sept. 2. The Battle of Perryville prevented CSA plan to take central . . . — — Map (db m181124) HM
On Kentucky Avenue at Pine Street (Kentucky Highway 66), on the right when traveling east on Kentucky Avenue.
Bell County formed from Harlan and Knox Counties, 1867. Named for Joshua Fry Bell, 1811-70, Congressman, Ky. Sec. of State, Comr. to peace conference in 1861 and State Legislator. He was g. grandson of Dr. Thomas Walker, explorer of Ky. . . . — — Map (db m35871) HM
On Kentucky Avenue at Pine Street (Kentucky Highway 66), on the right when traveling east on Kentucky Avenue.
Bell County, named for Joshua Fry Bell (1811-1870), was formed just after the Civil War in February of 1867 from portions of Harlan and Knox Counties. Pineville, the county seat, being so near the site where pioneers on the Wilderness Road crossed . . . — — Map (db m35875) HM
Near this site where the creek enters the river, on April 17, 1750, Dr. Thomas Walker first viewed the river he named for the Duke of Cumberland. Known as the "Narrows," this area became a significant gateway for travelers on the Wilderness Road. . . . — — Map (db m181163) HM
On State Park Road (Kentucky Route 382), on the right when traveling north.
Following in Their Footsteps
The Wilderness Road was a 200-mil, overland route made famous by legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone. First mapped in 1750 by Dr. Thomas Walker, the route began as a series of braided trails, called traces, created by . . . — — Map (db m181125) HM
On Bob Madon Bypass (U.S. 25E) south of Park Avenue, on the left when traveling south.
Opened Kentucky and the West to rapid settlement and major development. First wagon road built by Kentucky (1796), Crab Orchard to Cumberland Gap. A principal highway, maintained as turnpike (toll road) for 80 years. — — Map (db m212442) HM
On Bob Madon Bypass (U.S. 25E) at Tennessee Avenue, on the right when traveling west on Bob Madon Bypass.
The first to begin operations in Bell County, starting in 1889, with 1500 acres of coal land. Extension of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad to this area in 1888 marked the beginning of a new industrial era. This mine was not a financial . . . — — Map (db m35854) HM
On Asher-Clear Creek Road at U.S. 25E, on the right when traveling east on Asher-Clear Creek Road.
This cemetery was established by pioneers traveling along Boone's Wilderness Road during the late 1700's and early 1800's. These first settlers camped in the bottomland that is now Wasioto Golf Course while preparing to cross the Cumberland . . . — — Map (db m181156) HM
