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Cumberland Gap National Historical Park became a National Park in 1940. First used by large game animals in their migratory journeys, followed by Native Americans, the Cumberland Gap was the first and best route for the settlement of the interior of the nation.In 1750 Dr. After the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals ended most Indian troubles, Daniel Boone and thirty other men marked out the Wilderness Trail from what is now Kingsport Tennessee through the Cumberland Gap to Kentucky in 1775.Before the Revolutionary War was over 12,000 people crossed into the new frontier territory. By 1800 the Gap was being used for transportation and commerce, both east and west.The Cumberland Gap was also the scene of considerable activity during the Civil War because it was of such strategic Importance. Stephenson's troops forced the Union back into the Gap. Retrieving supplies stored in caves along the way, anything the troops couldn't carry was stock-piled and ready to be set afire. The explosion and subsequent wall of fire checked the Confederate advance and provided for a successful Union retreat.Today the Cumberland Gap is the main local route North and South, via Cumberland Gap Parkway (Hwy. By the mid 1990's a four lane tunnel under the Gap opened a new North-South, East-West route and the Cumberland Gap was restored like the first pioneer who saw it.