8/25: Charleston, WV-Knoxville, TN via Huntington, Hindman, & Cumberland Gap National Park

After spending a mostly unrewarding day in the West Virginia state capital of Charleston, Steven and I headed toward Knoxville, Tennessee, our destination for that long-ago August night. As we were in absolutely no rush, we stopped first in the small town of Milton, WV, crossing over the Mud River to see Milton's covered bridge. Steven and I have always been fans of covered bridges since seeing so many in the Lancaster area of Pennsylvania decades ago.

The Milton covered bridge was in memory of John Brunell who had been the state's covered bridge project manager. We were lucky to have the bridge to ourselves, especially since it was limited to just twenty people at a time! 

About a half-hour west was the city of Huntington, located on the Ohio River at the point where the states of West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky meet. The city with the nation's largest river port was founded in 1871 by Collis Huntington, who was then the president of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. We made our way to Ritter Park because of its Rose Garden which had been a gift from the local Junior League Club.

It was immediately apparent that late August was not the best time to view the 87 varieties of roses. There was a large map at the entrance to the park identifying the roses but none by the flowers themselves so it wasn't very helpful to a non-rose expert!

Beautiful homes, one after another, flanked the park. Each one far surpassed those we had come across driving all over the capital city the day before. 

As we headed toward Knoxville on the interstate, we were hoping to stop at a rest area for a picnic lunch. Our hopes were dashed when not one was listed anywhere on the Kentucky state map. We took a chance and got off the highway to check out the small town of Hindman. 

The very attractive Knott County Court House in Hindman, l:

Hindman was an absolute find, especially when I noticed the Appalachian Artisan Center on its main street as I have long been a fan of local crafts. I found a few small treasures - yeah! We were so happy when a staff member kindly pointed us toward a covered shelter by the public library for a picnic area. We'd never have found it by ourselves so the artisan center was a win all the way around.

A sign outside the library indicated that Hindman was also known as Kentucky's Elk Capital. I wonder what Coloradans would say about that!

George Clarke came to Hindman in 1889 to practice law but, seeing the need for a school, he established a 'subscription school' with the assistance of students and the townspeople. He became a teacher and state school inspector. His epitaph reads, "Let God be praised and let Eastern Kentucky rejoice that so great a man once graced its soil."

While driving along the rural Musicians' Highway, i.e. Hwys 23 & 80, we encountered one of the funniest things ever. We were stuck behind this large truck for miles and miles, unable to pass him on this narrow and very twisty road. No big deal except when every couple of minutes empty cans would roll off the top of the truck and into the road that we then had to dodge!

In a stroke of great luck, we managed to reach the Cumberland Gap National Park Visitors Center near Middlesboro in southeast Kentucky with ten minutes to spare. As you may recall, we were late by that same time for the sternwheeler boat ride by Parkersburg, WV a few days earlier so this made us feel better. 

We had just enough time to learn that when the earliest European explorers and traders reached the North American shores, sources of trade expanded greatly. The indigenous peoples had been used to exchanging natural items such as pelts, feathers, plants, and minerals among themselves. The newcomers, though, wanted pelts for the lucrative fur trade in Europe and began trading goods for furs. American Indians received items they had never seen or used before like copper kettles, guns, knives, bolts of woven cloth, and liquor. You have to wonder what they thought when they first saw some of these items!

I hadn't realized that salt was a highly valued item for the local population to trade with the Europeans. In the weeks before a trade expedition, prepared cakes of salt were prepared from the licks that were scattered throughout the state of Kentucky.

Inspired by tales of hidden wealth in the Cumberlands, an English industrialist, Alexander Arthur, came to Kentucky in 1885 to seek his fortune. Spotting commercial potential in the Cumberland Gap, he "set his mind, heart, and hands to the laying of plans and carrying out projects which eventually brought Middlesborough to the front as the Magic City." Middlesboro and its citizens enjoyed bustling commerce and a lavish social scene until 1893 when the English banks that had financed the rapid development went bust.

Cumberland Gap experienced a thriving tourist business in the 1920s that coincided with the coming of the automobile and interest in the pioneer experience. When the area's historic and scenic attractions became much publicized, legislation was passed in 1940 to create the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Wilderness Road had become terribly rutted by the wagons, buggies, and sleds the locals used. The spectacular mountain scenery and a nostalgia for the past prompted state legislators to pave what became known as the Object Lesson Road. The Gap was then opened to commercial traffic.

After Daniel Boone and his crew blazed the Wilderness Trail in 1775, pioneers traveled westward across the Cumberland Gap, searching for new opportunities. Part of that was due to the American Revolution and resulting political unrest taking place in the East. Scots-Irish people were also attracted by the promise of land ownership and the rich soil.

The first people to use the paths in the Gap's natural corridor that had been hardened by bison and other animals were American Indians, particularly the Shawnee and the Cherokee tribes. The Gap was used on hunting and trading expeditions as well as during times of war.

We then embarked on the four-mile-long road to the summit's Pinnacle Overlook.

For travelers who had to walk, the Appalachian mountains must have seemed like an impenetrable wall as it was 600 miles long and 150 miles wide. At the Gap, people could find a good way in and out of the rugged labyrinth of ridges, coves, and streams. 

Steven and I always love seeing and stepping on signs like this that divide states or cities. In the past, we stepped on a bit of pavement that marked East and West Berlin, and on a bridge near Victoria Falls that divided Zimbabwe and Zambia.

The Skyland Highway, called "an engineering marvel," when it first opened in 1929 provided an easy drive to stunning views that became known as the Garden of Gazes.

At the summit, the stunning panoramic views were of the states of Virginia on the left, Tennessee in the middle, and Kentucky to the right.

If you wondered what point exactly delineated which state, you surely weren't alone! In 1665, Great Britain's King Charles II declared his Virginia colony was to separate from his Carolina colony by a line drawn at a specific latitude. Surveyors started at the Atlantic Ocean in 1728 to run the line westward to the Mississippi River. As you might imagine, boundary disputes followed for decades, first between Virginia and North Carolina and later between Tennessee and Kentucky. 

During this country's Civil War, Union and CSA armies alternately controlled Cumberland Gap. 

I hadn't realized that Kentucky was the westernmost county of Virginia until 1792. The new state line was the Cumberland ridge top. In another bit of American geographical trivia, Tennessee was part of North Carolina until 1790! Commissioners from Virginia and Tennessee set the final line on White Top Mountain in 1803. 

A short trail followed the 1907 roadbed of an Object Lesson Road which were short stretches of smooth, crushed rock roads that were intended to show voters the convenience and value of building better roads with current techniques!

The model road was paid for by subscriptions with each contributor listed with the amount they gave in the Middlesboro News. One man gave $100 but others 'subscribed' for just $1.

We only hiked on Object Lesson Road as far as Indian Rock where travelers frequently encountered Cherokee and Shawnee ambushes. The marker was placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1915 to mark the Wilderness Trail blazed by Daniel Boone. It wasn't until I began doing research for this post that I read the rock was also where Indians would purportedly hide and jump on unsuspected settlers. The settlers tried to hack away at the rock to make it smaller.

It was a little anti-climatic to see the sign that stated "moccasin-clad warriors, battling Civil War soldiers, and frontiersmen" had each been here in the historic Cumberland Gap before us. 

Once again we were so fortunate that we had the trail to ourselves and we, therefore, didn't have to bother wearing masks. What a blessed relief it was to be maskless for a bit. 

The narrow road we'd just driven on to the top of the mountain had once been a highway where 18,000 cars and semi-trucks roared through every day, climbing the ten switchbacks to cross Cumberland Mountain. When fog, ice, and miles of backed-up traffic resulted in more than half a dozen fatalities a year, the road became known as Massacre Mountain. In a country that normally considers highways to be king, something unique happened - the highway was broken up and carted away! Native plants were introduced and every detail was addressed to restore the road to what it looked like back in the late 1700s.

The Federal Highway Administration and the National Park Service took 23 years to re-route the highway down the ridge where this colossal 4,600-foot tunnel was blasted through the solid rock of Cumberland Mountain. The people of Kentucky and the entire nation were given a remarkable gift of a beautiful historic footpath in America’s second-largest national historical park.

Pretty Norris Lake en route to Knoxville, our final stop of what had been another long day!

Next post: The excellent University of Tennessee Garden that was also an artistic gem!

Posted on March 12th, 2021, from Denver on what is supposed to be the region's biggest snowfall in years if the meteorologists are to be believed! People have descended on grocery stores like locusts to buy provisions in case we're all snowbound for days on end. We've all been told to heed warnings to hunker down, stay in place and not venture out onto the roads. Wherever you are, I hope you and your loved ones will also stay safe and warm in the coming days.