Fog rolls through the Cumberland Gap.
Our car passes by as late morning fog floats through the Gap as it has done for centuries. Tiny bits of moisture cling together as one. One giant cloud that cannot be stopped. It pushes between the trees, between the mountains . . .
. . . as it pushed before Daniel Boone did as he was hired to do. Before he led workers in widening the rough trail discovered by Dr. Thomas Walker in 1750. The fog rolled in before there was a way for immigrants to move into the West without crossing the Ohio River;
without struggling over the rugged lower central Appalachian Mountains. Europeans seeking land and Americans tired of being Americans moved through North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee into the Shawnee land of Kentucky.
They followed the trace left by centuries of American Bison that now retreated into the west. They walked in the steps of Shawnee hunters.
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People, who with their children, their wagons, their guns, their axes, kept coming.
They came and they came,
like fog rolling between the mountains on either side
of the Cumberland Gap.
10 comments:
Lovely shots, I had fun walking the trails and thinking of all the people who did the same.I was out there about 3 years ago.
nicely put into historical perspective...
We stopped at the National Park on the Virginia side and listened to a ranger tell a group of grade school children about the cave and its occupants. Dr. Walker called it Cave Gap as did the trail blazers before him.
I would like to go back and, like you, Prairie, walk through the gap.
nellie
Wonderful photos and remembrances of the people who made this trip under vastly different conditions. I've never seen this part of the country, but it is high on my list of priorities. Thank you for showing these amazing photos of your travels.
Oh what a terrific picture. The fog settled in the valley looks so pretty from this view. Probably not so pretty down below.
I love the mountains in fog. Often we see fog that looks like a lake between two mountains. I loved the narrative as well. It will not be stopped.
So many times as we drive and hike in the mountains, I wonder about the Cherokee and the pioneers who made a hardscrapple life here.
We've had lots of foggy mornings this week. I think fog is lovely.
I am visualizing what you were saying as i looked through the cloudy mist. It was a big real drama!
Nice scenery! Happy skywatching!
You wrote about my home!!! I grew up a few miles from Cumberland Gap...where are you from...if you don't mind my asking. Don't know how I missed this...
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