Insider Guide 2021

Welcome to the Cumberland Gap!

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, September 29, 2021

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The Cumberland Gap Region Tourism Association welcomes you to our Cumberland Gap Region which stretches into three states and contains the ten counties surrounding the Historic Cumberland Gap. Within the Cumberland Gap Region lies a cornucopia of history, natural beauty, art, music, adventure, and our Appalachian culture and heritage.

The diversity of this region is evident from rally sports car racing at Kingdom Come State Park in Harlan, County, to the moonbow at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park in Corbin, to the Chained Rock in Pineville, to those delicious world-famous Granger County tomatoes, to the mysterious Melungeon population of Hancock, County, and to our Appalachian culture and heritage represented by the White Lightning Trail. The Cumberland Gap Region has it all.

The history of our past is preserved for future generations in museums throughout the region. These include the Kentucky Coal Miner’s Museum in Benham, Kentucky, the Colonel Harland Sanders Museum in Corbin, Kentucky, the Martin Station Frontier Fort at the Wilderness Road State Park in Ewing, Virginia, Grainger County’s history kiosk at the veterans overlook atop Clinch Mountain, and the Abraham Lincoln Museum on the campus of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee.

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Within our counties, our many entertainment venues help tell the story of this region’s rich music heritage. From the newly renovated Historic Lee Theater in Pennington Gap, VA and the Historic Bell Theater in Pineville, KY, to the Laurel Cove Amphitheater, also in Pineville. They share the spotlight with the Levitt Concert Series Stage in Middlesboro, the Union County Opry in Maynardville, Postmark LaFollette in Campbell, County, and the Corbin Arena. Music is in the air of the Cumberland Gap Region. It’s part of our heritage.

We are so delighted that you are here with us to share the history, natural beauty, art, music, adventure, and the Appalachian experience of which we are so proud. Take a day or a week to visit our outstanding lakes, rivers, mountains, breathtaking vistas, and drive the length of Powell’s Valley that was once the ancestral home of the Cherokee. Get back to nature.

Stay in one of our numerous campgrounds, RV parks, cabins, houseboats, or airbnbs. By you visiting and spreading the news, you are helping us make the Cumberland Gap region a “vacation destination.”

To learn more about the Cumberland Gap region, visit our website at: cumberlandgapregion.com
Better yet, email us at

CGRTA@yahoo.com with a message that simply says, “Add me to your weekly email newsletter including the calendar of events.” Once you have done that, you will stay informed of all the happenings in the Cumberland Gap region.

Carl Nichols, Director
Cumberland Gap Region Tourism Association