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View from space of the ridges of the Cumberland Mountains and the Gap at Middlesboro. |
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That group of diagonal ridges shown in the picture from space is a section of the Appalachian Mountains named the Cumberlands. The Appalachian Range extends about 1500 miles, running nearly parallel to the Atlantic Coast. It stretches as far north as Quebec, Canada, and south into northern Alabama. The section that was important to the early exploration of America is that portion from Pennsylvania to Georgia, which formed an almost impenetrable barrier for those early pioneers who pushed the limits of the frontier to seek adventure and fortune beyond the boundary of the eastern seaboard states. But there was a way through this barrier, a lower passage over the ridges and along the waterways. There were stories told of a "Path of the Armed Ones," or the Warrior's Path, following an ancient trail formed by flowing water from the slopes of the mountains. This path had been traveled for thousands of years. First it was an ancient buffalo trail, made by migrating herds seeking new grazing land and heading for the salt licks. It was a narrow, but well traveled trail. The Indians followed this trail, over the mountains they called "Wasioto," into their hunting land in Kenta-ke. That area, although not a permanent home for any Indian group, was crucially important as hunting grounds for the Shawnee of Ohio, and the Cherokee from Tennessee and North Carolina. That trail had various names; as the use of the path changed, the name changed to reflect that use. The Buffalo Trace, Path of the Armed Ones, The Warrior's Path, Wilderness Road, Boone's Trace, The Kentucky Road; whatever it was called, it passed through a gap in the mountains located right here at Middlesboro. When Thomas Walker, the first European who came down that path with his group, found the gap and recorded their observations, he named that section of the mountains the Cumberlands after Lord Cumberland of England. The gap became the Gap of the Cumberlands. It was still a rugged, steep climb up and over the pass, but on reaching the crest, the saddle of the gap, they looked down on the area that was to become Middlesboro. Still following the path, the trail followed the Cumberland River through the Narrows, until coming upon a place where the banks were less steep and the water more shallow, then proceeded on into the grasslands of Kenta-ke. Men from North Carolina and Virginia formed hunting parties and traveled the Wilderness Road. Thomas Walker and his party, followed by Daniel Boone, explored the possibility of expansion into Kenta-ke. Our forefather pioneers were not far behind, seeking new homes in the new frontier beyond the mountains. The Wilderness Road was the main route into Kentucky. At first, as the trail was rough and steep, the only travel was by foot or horseback. A few years later, the road was improved. Although still steep and rugged, at least then it allowed wagons, holding all the families owned, to navigate the trail and cross the river at Cumberland Ford (now called Pineville.) And on they trudged toward their aspiration of new opportunity. Did Thomas Lincoln and Nancy travel those old "Kentucky Paths" with their daughter, Sara, and son, Abraham, when they traveled from points in Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois back to Washington City? Or, had those paths been improved by that time to be what was later called "Old Highway?"
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