Cum·ber·land Gap

(kŭm′bər-lənd)

A natural passage through the Cumberland Mts. near the junction of the Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee borders. It was used by Daniel Boone in 1775 as a strategic point along his Wilderness Road, the principal route of westward migration for the next half century.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cum′berland Gap′

a pass in the Cumberland Mountains at the junction of the Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee boundaries. 1315 ft. (401 m) high.

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Noun

Cumberland Gap - a pass through the Cumberland Mountains between Virginia and Kentucky that early settlers used in order to move west

Cumberland Mountains, Cumberland Plateau - the southwestern part of the Appalachians

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Morgan, when he was driven from Cumberland Gap to the Ohio river by General Kirby Smith.

View in context

It's also name-checked in the second verse of Lonnie Donegan's number one hit Cumberland Gap (Cumberland Gap, it ain't nowhere, 13 miles from Middlesburg).

Boro in the USA

With "Roadside Geology of Tennessee" as a guide, anyone can now explore the geologic significance of many of the state's natural and historic sties such as Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, Harpeth River State Park, Dunbar Cave State Natural Area, and Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

Roadside Geology of Tennessee

Joens said Illinois was settled by southerners who came down the Ohio River through the Cumberland Gap. Many of these settlers were from slave states, such as Virginia, and slavery became quite an issue on the road to Illinois statehood.

Overflow library crowd hears how Illinois became a state

Which musician had a UK number one with Cumberland Gap? 23 29.

MASTERMINDS

Lonnie Donegan had a UK No1 single with "Cumberland Gap" 4.

TIME OUT EXTRA

Since the first settlers traveled through the Cumberland Gap into what would become Kentucky, Baptists have been among their number.

Born of Water & Spirit: The Baptist Impulse in Kentucky, 1776-1860

In 2012, AOMA tried to recruit Lincoln Memorial University-DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine of Cumberland Gap, Tennes-see, to open a school in Arkansas.

Emails: Osteopathic Association opposed Jonesboro location

Signature projects like the Hoover Dam Bypass, the Cumberland Gap Tunnel, and the reconstructed Going-to-the-Sun Road prove FLH's capability to manage and deliver high-profile projects that garner national, even international, attention.

Celebrating 100 years of success

Recently we took a variety of birds to the Raptor Rhapsody weekend at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.

Up close and personal with a raptor