Cumberland Gap

At this stop we enjoyed several historical sites. We stopped along the Wilderness Trail, which was followed by the Indians and early white settlers like Daniel Boone, who blazed a wagon road along the trail. It was at Wilderness Road State Park and visited Martins Station, a fort of sorts with five cabins. A replica of the old station is now a living outdoor museum, and Interpreters in colonial dress are there to tell visitors what life was like in the late 1700s. Joseph Martin, now largely forgotten, played a significant role in settling Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee. He was a trader, Indian agent, explorer, Army General, politician, and first settler of Lee County, VA.

We also visited the Fort McCook earthworks overlooking Cumberland Gap. This was a Union stronghold high on a mountain. General Grant said that with two brigades from the Army of the Cumberland, he could hold that pass against the Army Napoleon led to Moscow. Another general called it "America's Gibraltar." Regrettably, due to its pinnacle location, the fort could not be re-supplied easily and was eventually abandoned without seeing action.

One of our favorite tours was of the isolated Hensley Settlement in Bell County, Kentucky. Sherman and Nicey Hensley, who moved up to Brush Mountain on a plateau of the Cumberland Mountains in 1903, founded the settlement. Sherman was prolific in that he fathered 18 children by Nicey and made lots of distilled corn liquor. The settlement of 12 farmsteads was basically self-supporting and at one point was home to about 100 people. It lasted without electricity and indoor plumbing until the last man, Sherman, who left the mountain in 1951, stayed at his beloved retreat for the last two years all by himself after everyone else had left. Sherman and Nicey’s graves are located in the old cemetery. So is the body of an escaped convict from Oklahoma, an Indian who found his way to the settlement. When confronted by Sherman, who was out hunting wild turkeys, the Indian tried to wrestle Sherman’s shotgun away from him. The Indian chose to tangle with the wrong man—quite a man indeed. You didn’t mess with the good folks from the Hensley Settlement.

The Cumberland National Park Service purchased the land from its owners and has restored the original buildings, including some of the homes, to their 1940s condition. Especially quaint is the old one room school. We traveled via Park van up the mountain on a long, twisting, rocky road with many switchbacks and deep ravines. The Hensleys must have coveted their privacy. Life was simple on Brush Mountain, and we could still feel that old pioneer spirit as we walked along the rail fences and smelled the fresh fall air whistling through the colorful trees. Hensley family members still hold an annual reunion in the old settlement.

Another tour that was of special interest included Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. The Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum houses one of the most diverse Lincoln collections in the country. Exhibited are many rare items including the cane Lincoln carried that fateful night at Ford's Theatre and the tea set he and Mary Todd used in their home in Springfield. There are numerous other artifacts as well as 30,000 books, manuscripts, pamphlets, photographs, paintings and sculptures that depict the story of President Lincoln and the Civil War period. The curator and his assistant were most knowledgeable and helpful. They provided some wonderful, fresh insights into America's history. One thing we learned is that Lincoln was a renowned wordsmith, and he chose his words carefully before uttering or writing them.