From the National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form:
"This area comprises that portion of the Cumberland Gap vicinity which lies in Virginia and is within the boundaries of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. Cumberland Gap is a notch in a narrow section of Cumberland Mountain, part of the Allegheny chain at the southwestern tip to Virginia. The Gap is a result of a block fault running perpendicular to the axis of the mountain. The ridge of the mountain runs generally from northeast to southwest, and the Gap is delineated by two peaks: to the northeast is the Pinnacle, and to the southwest is Tri-State Peak, where the states of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee meet. A natural passage through the Gap runs generally from the southeast to the northwest, starting up the mountain in Virginia at 1350 feet, entering Kentucky at the "saddle of the Gap", elevation 1650, and descending to 1150 feet at the western base of the mountain. The Pinnacle is 800 feet above the saddle of the Gap at 2440 feet and the Tri-State Point is 1980 feet in elevation. The mountain is covered by a third growth mixed hardwood forest.
The Virginia section extends to the east of the ridge of the mountain forming a 3000 foot long triangle bordered by Tennessee to the south and by Kentucky to the northwest.
Significance:
Cumberland Gap has been for centuries a passageway for man, being the only easily accessible pass through the Allegheny Mountains. It has witnessed the movement of peoples from aboriginal Indians to modern travelers, and has played an important role in the westward expansion of the United States.
Prior to 1750, the primary users of this pass were Indians. Probably following buffalo paths, these early hunters found the route through the mountains and established a trail between the Tennessee Valley and the rich hunting grounds of Kentucky. Due to competition for game, different tribes began to battle for the right to use this land, and the trail became part of the "Warriors path".
After the discovery of Cumberland Gap by Dr. Thomas Walker in 1750, increasing numbers of white men from the Virginia and Carolina Colonies passed through Cumberland Gap in search of new land and good hunting, but two wars and the fear of Indian attacks prevented large numbers of permanent settlers from going west before 1790. In the interim, men like Daniel Boone made the area and themselves famous by their long, perilous trips through the Gap into the Kentucky Wilderness. In 1775, Boon blazed a trail from the Holston River in Tennessee through Cumberland Gap to the Kentucky River, giving the route the name of "Boone's Trace".
During the 1790's a mass of immigrants passed through Cumberland Gap into Kentucky at the rate of nearly 100 per day. These people were lured to the cheap lands to the west, and began pouring through the Gap as soon as western travel seemed safe. But the Gap's gained importance began to decline as more people used the easier route through the Ohio Valley. Westward travel through the Gap nearly ceased by 1800. During the decade of heavy use, the trail through the mountains was known as "The Wilderness Road".
Through the nineteenth century, Cumberland Gap was a locally important commercial passage, used by stockmen and merchants more than immigrants. Only during the Civil War did the Gap again come to national prominence. Judged an important strategic pass by both sides, it was strongly fortified and held alternately by the Union and Confederate Armies, but never was the scene of a major battle. Since the Civil War, Cumberland Gap has continued to serve as a passage, though part of the Wilderness Road which gave it its original importance has been obliterated. The road has been improved, graded and widened continually during this century, as Cumberland Gap has continued its function as a passageway for man.
U. S. Highway 25-E and other modern conveniences has caused the Gap to lose some of its historical flavor, but it is still the scene of one of the great migrations to the west. Loss of the Gap and its remaining historic structures would mean the loss of an area that effectively tells of the great trans-allegheny migration of 1775-1800."