Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Interpretive Center

Found more historical things to see while in Corbin.  Yesterday, and of course in the 95 degrees/90% humidity, we traveled back to the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and on into Virginia to the town of Duffield.  About 100 miles away, but we were hoping it was worth it, and it was.

Kudzu growing on everything

Swallowing up anything in it's path

Looks like huge monsters

The Center we wanted to visit was just opened in December, so to find information on the internet was a tedious task.  We did mention to the rangers when we got there how little information there is on the internet and they said they were working on it.  And, of course with the 250th celebration of Daniel Boones' first trek over the Cumberland Pass, they were getting things ready for the weekend celebrations.

Mountains ahead - nearing the Gap and the tunnel

The trail to the Cumberland Gap

But, on our way to Duffield we saw the kudzu in it's glory.  This plant was introduced in the 1930's as an ornamental plant, helping to keep erosion at bay along the roadways and sides of mountains. In Japan they actually eat the root, using it as a filler in dishes.  The kudzu is out of control.  Only way to kill the plant, which grows 2 inches a day, is to a). get goats to graze it and they eat the whole plant and kill it,  or b). put nasty pesticides which are really harsh on them, but have to be diligent in putting chemical a lot and will kill just about anything else, so chemicals are not used.  Horses, cattle won't eat kudzu.  Along the roadway (Daniel Boone Trace) eastward you see formations that look like monsters.  One ranger told us that her friend bought a farm, wanted to be 'green' so they bought goats to kill/eat the kudzu.  Later they found that on the property was a barn which was totally covered in kudzu.  They had no idea it was there!

Reached the Interpretive Center, toured it, and we noted that this Center was dedicated to the 300,000 people who traveled on Daniel Boones' trail.  One in five travelers were African American, brought along as slaves.  But within 60 years, the slaves would be free, Kentucky was part of the Union then. The Center was not so much about Daniel Boone, but about the people who came through and their stories of hardship.  Towards the end of the tour we noted a very cool map that showed the 4 major migrations (voluntary) of people in the United States, and we have seen/walked/visited them all.  Pretty cool.

To think we have seen, visited, walked, hiked, traveled along all 4 trails - pretty awesome!!!

The mountains in the background - they traveled along the same road we were on

Entrance to the station

All buildings were constructed exactly as was noted from journals of time

At the end of the tour, we were encouraged to visit the Martin's Station, a State Park of Virginia, where a recreated Station (fort/resupply station) existed.  Once we left the Center we traveled about 30 miles back towards the Gap, were we stopped at Martin's Station.  And of course, they were getting ready for the weekend's activities of the 250th anniversary of Daniel Boones' trek over the Gap.

The fence around station, all hand crafted

They grow their own food, raise cattle/pigs, grow tah-back-ee

Shawnee Indian village is also part of the Station

Definitely an ah-ha day.  Wow.  We learned a lot, definitely understood how people got from Philadelphia to Kentucky during the 1700's.  Not an easy task, but they did it.

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

The main reason for coming to Corbin, Kentucky was to visit Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and to learn as much as we could about Daniel Boone.  We first drove to Middlesboro which is the closest town to the National Park, sitting on the border of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.  Not far, about 40 miles east of Corbin.  Of course did the 'view the movie' in the visitor's center and then drove up to the parking area of Pinnacle overlook which looks down on the 3 states.

But - the weather has been terrible.  High 90's temperature with anywhere from 85 to 93 % humidity. Just dripping in sweat.  So our hiking was somewhat limited due to the strain of walking/hiking in that kind of weather.  The walk up to the Pinnacle overlook was not long, pretty views, but we were drenched by the time we got back to the car.  Rested in the a/c then drove to the Walker parking lot and walked up the old Cumberland Road/Daniel Boone Trace to the saddle of the gap, then retreated quickly back down to the car and into a/c.  How we sweated!!!  Man.

Walk up to Pinnacle Overlook

That's not smoke, its humidity/moisture

Interesting place.  About 25 years ago the tunnel that was dug under the gap/pass was completed for traffic which left the original pathway over the gap.  The park removed the road, regraded UP to the original elevation, planted thousands of trees and plants to return it back to it's original way it was when Daniel Boone came through in 1769, his first time through.  And, this weekend marks the 250th anniversary of his passing through the Gap.  We are glad we visited the park before the people converge on the festivities.

Looking down towards Virginia and Tennessee from the Overlook

The National Park's attention was on Daniel Boone as well as Dr,  Thomas Walker who really was the first to transverse the Gap.  The Gap is a natural break in the mountains the animals such as bison, elk, deer, bears, etc. used to move up and over the mountains to the west.  Then the Shawnee and the Iroquois Indians used the pass to move back and forth.  De Soto was known to have come through the area in the late 1500's.  Then came Dr. Thomas Walker who surveyed the area, then Daniel Boone who was hired to blaze a trail for westward passage into Kentucky from the east.

Interesting thing about Middlesboro - officially recognized as the only US town built within a meteor crater.  About 300 million years ago a meteor struck there and created a huge crater.  Having an ancient river carve the Gap was a good thing for the pioneers who used it to cross over to western United States.

Having visited the park only peaked our interest in what else we could find in the area about the pioneers and Daniel Boone.  We are on a mission once we got back to the RV to find some more things.

Made It to Kentucky

Our 5 week stay in Ohio came to a close yesterday when we packed up and headed south on Interstate 71 into Cincinnati and then to Louisville, Kentucky where we picked up I 75 south.  Got to Corbin, Kentucky 5 1/2 hours later, in 98 degrees.  Ugly.  We found out today that it has not rained here for the last 4 weeks so everything is quite brittle and they are thinking the fall color change will not be good, need lots of moisture to turn those leaves golden.

Dave worked on the engineering/design/testing of the engine.

The wedding festivities of Labor Day Weekend were wonderful.  Saw many relatives on Dave's side of the family.  Was able to spend quality time with a couple of those members, and we are so happy for the married couple.  They make a fabulous pair.  Will not post pictures, it was their show, not ours.  Once the wedding stuff was over we had 6 days to try to catch up with more family and we succeeded.  Sad we did not get to see our friends but, other pressing matters had taken place.

Another activity we did while in Columbus, we traveled to Dayton to see the Air Force Museum and Wright Brothers Aviation exhibits.  Was very impressed with what Orville and Wilbur Wright accomplished with no formal education.  Truly gifted engineers.  While at the Air Force Museum, we found the Titan Missile on display as well as the F111A fighter jets.  These were very important to Dave, he worked on the engineering, design and testing of both.  Awesome.

Learned - an ah-hah moment - about Orville and Wilbur Wright

Amazing brothers, what they did and how they accomplished how to fly

Corbin Kentucky looks like it is growing, lots of construction.  We were at this same campground 10 years ago when we were heading back up from wintering in Florida, stopping here for a night.  This time we are stopping longer to see some sights, in particular, the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.  We also want to see more of Daniel Boone historical things.  During 1790 to 1810 over 300,000 people traveled through the Gap on their way west using the Trace that Daniel Boone cut through the mountains.

On our way to Cincinnati from Columbus Ohio area

Hello Cincinnati - has been SO MANY years since I had been here

Crossed over the Ohio River

Not liking this weather.  Have to have the a/c on all the time.  Buddy did great on the trip, no howling/drooling/vomiting.  Just our drugged up little boy sitting in his closet the whole trip.