Ghost Tour

In almost every historic town in the United States you’ll find ghost tours out the wazoo. New Orleans has tours through cemeteries. Gettysburg has them on the battlefields. We’ve seen the advertisements. We’ve seen the buses. But

in all of our years of travel, we have never taken a single one. That was until our adventure in Cumberland Gap. When the sun went down on our first day, we congregated at the Olde Mill Inn with a group of strangers and a young woman with a lantern. It was time for the tour to commence. We’re not going to spoil the tour for you, because it’s definitely something fun to do when you visit The Gap. However, here’s the short of it: The Cumberland Gap region was home to many dangerous occupations back in the day. It was teeming with coal mines, which meant countless fatalities. It was also the site of the Iron Furnace, where men would manually melt down the iron in a giant furnace in the woods. More than one person was killed either by the sheer weight of the metal or by the furnace itself. The workers in these professions were overworked and

job, their families were left with little to nothing to live off of. This made for many broken families and emotionally tortured people. So, the tour says, some of those people are still hanging around The Gap. Take the tour and decide for yourself. If the ghost tour isn’t your thing, you can wander into the woods and make your own adventure. In The Gap alone we took three hikes. The first took us to the Iron Furnace, which is a ginormous stone structure beside a waterfall. Tony took us on the adventure of a lifetime and had us climbing on rocks, walking over waterfalls, and hiking up a mountain. Cave tours are offered in this area, but we just peeked inside one of many. Then we made our way back down, taking in the views of the red buds and mountain mist. Our second hike was to the Pinnacle. We met Park Ranger Carol at the Cumberland Gap National Park Visitor’s Center, and she drove us up the mountain. So, we definitely took the easy way out on that one. The ‘hike’ was a tiny hill to the lookout point. People had been telling us since we arrived that the view would absolutely blow our minds. Some even said we would be able to see all the way to Chattanooga from up there. Often a cynic, all I could think was, “But it can’t be like the view from Top of the Rock in New York.” Or, “I bet it’s not as good as the castles along the Rhine.” When I stepped out onto the platform and caught my first glimpse of the full view, there was a moment when I was sure my heart stopped. I have never, in twenty-four years of life, seen anything like it. It was like the world opened up just for me, and like I was seeing everything for the very first time. I kept wondering if the sky had always been that blue or if the mountains had always been that tall. We stood at the edge of the viewing platform and Ranger Carol pointed out The Gap and we even took a second to wave down to Tony standing on the porch of Gap Creek Coffee House. We enjoyed the view of the rolling green hills of Harrogate, and the bustling traffic of the Interstate. From that one spot we could see into three different states: Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky. Every one was right. That view was unbelievable. It wasn’t Central Park or the buildings of Manhattan. It wasn’t the Rhine or a grand German castles. It was different entirely. Incomparable to anything I’d seen before. And, trust me, I know it sounds so dramatic. Yeah, yeah, we’ve all seen mountains and valleys and blue skies before. Big whoop.

But it’s not just about the view. It’s about how it feels to stand on top of a mountain. It’s like you’re watching life move for everyone, but somehow you’re frozen in time. Holding onto that moment for as long as possible. Nothing else matters at the Pinnacle. It’s you and the view. I wanted to stand there and just stare all day, because I knew as soon as I walked away, I wouldn’t feel that way

anymore. I’d be back to thinking about all of life’s problems and stressing about things that didn’t matter. But at the Pinnacle, time stops for you. Enough about my love for the Pinnacle... Our third hike was on our last day in Cumberland

Gap, and we hiked to the Three State Marker. This was the longest hike we took on our trip, and possibly the most strenuous. It was about 1.5 miles each way, and all uphill on your way to the marker. For the most part it didn’t feel awful, but there were certainly spots where the incline reminded me that I need to work out more. After we made it up the last, and steepest part, of the hill, we were met with a glorious breeze and 360˚ views of pure beauty. The significance of this spot is that you can stand in three states at one time. Set under a covered platform is an emblem denoting your position in Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. Quite the Instagram spot for sure. There are also markers for each state positioned around the platform that make for great photo ops. On our hike, we had the perfect weather.

Crisp blue skies and cotton ball clouds. We couldn’t have asked for anything more. These are just three hikes, but that doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of what Cumberland Gap and the surrounding region has to offer. While we drove to the Pinnacle, there are also several trails that you can walk for a more adventurous way to get there. The same goes for the Three State Marker. We took one of the more difficult trails, but there are other options coming from Kentucky and Virginia if you want different scenery. These trails are all part of the famous Wilderness Road, made popular by explorer Daniel Boone. Think of all of the people who walked those same trails before us. Native Americans. Settlers and pioneers. Civil War soldiers. Both the Confederacy and the Union occupied the area at different times, and it was thought to be a great battleground. However, the terrain proved to be too difficult, so no battles were ever fought in the Cumberland Gap region. The history of this area is more extensive than we could ever tell you. Sure, you can do research. But why not come on down and experience the history for yourself?