• fog flows through Cumberland Gap

    Cumberland Gap

    National Historical Park Kentucky

  • Cave Tour Alert!

    White Nose Syndrome is a disease that is killing bats in great numbers. While visiting Gap Cave please do not wear or bring anything that has been in other caves. Skylight Cave is currently closed. More »

Photos of Yesteryear

Early entrance to park

Beginnings of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park fom early postcard.

US Highway 25E was an integral part of the historic Dixie Highway and became a major north-south thoroughfare.
 
Tourists flocked to see where Daniel Boone blazed the first major westward trail.

Early postcards and photos bear witness to the concentration of visitors staying in "motels" and exploring the newly created park.

 
Early Fern Lake postcard

Old photo of Fern Lake from the Tri-State Peak area. Tri-State Peak is now an easily accesible and popular frontcountry hike.

Fern Lake was created in the 1890's to supply the town of Middlesboro with water. The Fern Lake watershed is now part of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.

Did You Know?

Fire Pink, a bright red appalachian wildflower.

Although Cumberland Gap is designated a national historical park, 14,000 of its 24,000 acres have been proposed, and are managed, as wilderness.