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Feature article
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Monument marking Boone’s path through Cumberland Gap rededicated
By Walter Littrell
CUMBERLAND GAP — With Daniel Boone circulating in the crowd, it was appropriate that park officials had plenty of Cumberland Gap bottled water for the thirsty hundred or so folks who made a hike up the mountain last week to the saddle of the historic gap.
The group was there for the rededication of a monument marking the path of the frontiersman through the rugged mountain on his trek from North Carolina, through Tennessee, Virginia and into Kentucky. Boone’s travels led to the first westward expansion of a young nation.
In 1915, the Daughters of the American Revolution from Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina erected a series of monuments along the Wilderness Road, as Boone’s path came to be known. One of these monuments was located right in the saddle of the gap, almost on the Kentucky/Tennessee state line and just over half a mile from where the three states meet.
Time marched on and the flat-topped pyramid had to be moved to allow for widening of the highway. In time, the land on which it sat was taken over by the National Park Service, and the monument became a part of Cumberland Gap National Historic Park.
Nearly 90 years of weather took its toll on the monument at the gap, which had a plaque from each of the four states. And when the situation came to the attention of the DAR, members began to mobilize to restore the rock structure and plaques. They formed a partnership with the park and the DAR provided the funding while the NPS contracted the work out.
Park officials and DAR members from several states — including DAR State Regents from the original participating states — met last Monday at the saddle of the gap to rededicate the monument.
“As the restoration of Cumberland Gap was being finished, it was fitting and appropriate to complete this as well,” said Park Superintendent Mark Woods. “Thankfully, the DAR wanted to come together and help us in the restoration of the monument which represents Boone’s trail from North Carolina to Kentucky.”
Woods was referring to a multimillion dollar project in Cumberland Gap that has been decades in the works. The restoration effort included construction of twin tunnels under the mountain. Completion of the tunnel allowed the park to rip up a narrow and twisting section of U.S. 25E that crossed at the gap and then return the land to its original contours.
Scott New, an interpreter at Wilderness Road State Park, portrayed Boone for the rededication and gave a brief address to the crowd during the wreath-placing ceremony. He encouraged those present to remember their heritage and history as well as that of the gap.
“The United States needs its history and heritage now more than in its two previous centuries of history. History is a foundation, and a house without a foundation cannot stand. You’ve got to protect it, and you’ve got to fight for it,” he said.
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