As discussed earlier, the Cumberland Gap Genealogy Jamboree will be held this coming weekend, June 9-12, 2011. The schedule, speakers and other data are noted on the website at http://www.wil-syl.com/jamboree3/.
Cumberland Gap was founded in 1750 by Dr. Thomas Walker, an early Virginia physician and explorer. Nature created the site much earlier when a meteorite created the Middlesboro crater in the Cumberland Mountains, which are part of the lower Allegheny Mountains. Without the crater, it would have been difficult for packhorses to cross the mountains. The Gap is part of the famous Wilderness Road.
Initially there was an Indian path through the Gap. Daniel Boone and some loggers widened it for wagons and groups of settlers.
In early 1775 there were perhaps 150 single men and Indians in Kentucky. In August 1775, Daniel Boone and Hugh McGary – along with Thomas Denton and Richard Hogan were the first to bring their families through the Gap. Between 1775 and 1810 some 2-300,000 people went west along this route.
Hope to see you there.