Shawnee

Cumberland Gap cuts through the long ridge of Cumberland Mountain, opening a way between the Powell and Cumberland river valleys. The basin to its west lies below the pass, surrounded by wooded heights. Indigenous peoples, including the Shawnee and Cherokee, used the gap for hunting, trade and settlement. In 1750 the explorer Thomas Walker passed through it, and a quarter of a century later Daniel Boone helped mark a road westward. Settlers followed, bringing conflict over Indigenous lands beyond the mountains.