Wandering animals, buffalo and deer, were the first to discover this natural break in the daunting Appalachian Mountains. These migratory mammals blazed the trail that American Indian tribes would later follow. American settlers seemed destined to be bottled up on the East Coast until April 1750 when Dr. Thomas Walker discovered the gap through the mountains.

Later, Daniel Boone blazed the Wilderness Road through the Gap in 1775. Over the next 20 years, although no wagons rolled through the pass, more than 200,000 people made the journey west into the wilderness of Kentucky and beyond. The Cumberland Gap was honored as a national Historic Park in 1940 and a new tunnel through the mountains will enable the Wilderness Road to one day be restored to its 1700s appearance.

The Cumberland Gap National Historic Park encompasses more than 20,000 acres of dog-friendly forest lands in the mountains on the Kentucky-Virginia border. The best spot to view the gap with your dog is at Pinnacle Overlook, accessible on a 4-mile paved road. Most visitors don