Cumberland Gap

History

The Cherokee and Shawnee Native American tribes traveled through a game trail known to the Shawnee as Athiamiowee. The tribes often fought each other and white settlers called the trail The Warriors' Path. The area that came to be known as the Cumberland Gap was a gateway on the trail through the mountains. Although many settlers had traveled through the pass and their reports had traveled back east, Thomas Walker is credited as the settler who discovered the pass. Walker was hired by the Loyal Land Company to search for a suitable site for a settlement on the western side of the mountains. It became a postal town in 1803, and was officially incorporated as a city in 1907. The town changed hands four times during the Civil War, but no battles actually took place there. In 1888, a work camp was established at Cumberland Gap by Scottish-born entrepreneur Alexander Arthur (1846–1912) to house workers needed to build a tunnel for the Knoxville, Cumberland Gap & Louisville Railroad. Arthur, who was attempting to establish a large-scale iron production operation in the Cumberland Gap region, founded the nearby cities of Middlesboro, Kentucky, and Harrogate, Tennessee, and the nearby community of Arthur. In 1996, the completion of the Cumberland Gap Tunnel re-routed US 25E, bypassing the town's central business district. This bypassing of the town caused the local economy to decline as annual payrolls for Cumberland Gap dropped 40% in a ten-year span from 1994 (two years before the tunnel's completion) to 2004.

Geography

Cumberland Gap is located at (36.598976, -83.667318). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Cumberland Gap High School
  High · Cumberland Gap · 480 students · 11.7:1 ratio
• Ellen Myers Primary
  Elementary · Harrogate · 331 students · 16.6:1 ratio
• Powell Valley Elementary
  Elementary · Speedwell · 323 students · 17.9:1 ratio
• H. Y. Livesay Middle School
  Middle · Harrogate · 262 students · 18.7:1 ratio
• Forge Ridge School
  Elementary · Harrogate · 151 students · 13.7:1 ratio