Daniel Boone Tour - Cumberland Gap - Martin's Station

We went on a Daniel Boone tour last summer with Don Pinson from the Heritage Ministries of Ky. Brian had helped do some of the research for this seminar/tour back last winter. We went to the Martin's Station in Virginia where Daniel made stops at and the Cumberland Gap where he first passed through to Kentucky and then brought his family through.

Many people think Daniel Boone was just an adventurous hunter that wore a coon skin cap. But that is the farthest thing from the truth. He was a Christian and God used him to open the land west of the Appalachian Mountains to spread the gospel of Jesus.

Daniel Boone wrote in 1816: "The religion I have is to love and fear God, believe in Jesus Christ, do all the good to my neighbor, and myself that I can, do as little harm as I can help, and trust on God's mercy for the rest."

On the way!

The girls got to visit Virginia for the first time.


1st Stop - Martin's Station
Artifacts inside Martin's Station's Visitor's Center






This is a photograph of Scott New that portrays Daniel Boone at Fort Boonesborough.

The sign in desk at the Visitor's Center.

Don getting ready to start the tour at Martin's Station.

Capt. Joseph Martin who founded Martin's Station greeted us as we approached the fort.


The re-enactors at this site were just wonderful and full of knowledge.

The chink between the logs being filled. They would knock it out in the summer time and then the kids would help fill it back in for the winter months.

The Stockades

Supplies


Fireplace inside a cabin.

Outside the cabin

Getting the canon ready to fire.

Explaining all of the different ammunition they used to fire from the canon.

The canon right after they fired it.

Capt. Martin was demonstrating how they made nails.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the day. His hands were worn and dirty - so realistic!

The gun smith demonstrating how they would carry their guns in the rain so their gun's firing section wouldn't get wet.

Firing the musket rifle.

The outside of the fort.

These horses were in separate fields and it looked like they were hugging their necks! So sweet!

Lanterns on the path to the fort.

Crossing back into Tennessee!

At the foot of the trail that leads up to the gap.

Don would stop on the way up the trail and teach a few things as we went up.

At the top of the Cumberland Gap!

Overlooking into Middlesboro, Kentucky.

This is where Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia all meet together.

Part of our group at the top! Self timed off centered portrait :-)

Yes - this IS what it looks like! A Black Diamondback Rattlesnake :)

There was one of the guys with us on the tour that went ahead on the way down. He was waiting for us on the trail and was motioning for us all to be very quiet. He said that he came within 4-5 feet of this rattlesnake when he saw it. We waited for it to cross the path and get on down a little before we proceeded. I know that God gave us dominion over these creatures but they still can catch you off guard, especially if you don't have some sort of protection/weapon!

See the little path that is in the middle of the picture? That is where the Gap is and then we hiked on up to the Tri-State Peak. This picture was taken from the Pinnacle that we will get to "drive" to.

This pinnacle at the top right of this picture is where we ended up driving to on the other side of the mountain. Pictures from there are toward the end of this post :) This picture was taken from the Gap area before we went up to the Tri-State Peak.

We drove through the town of Cumberland Gap. It was so quaint and beautiful!

Here is the actual Cumberland Gap. Still looks pretty high, but it really was the best spot in a long stretch of high mountains to cross with wagons, families, and all their livestock.

They had built a road through the gap over 50 years ago, but within the last ten years they tore the road up and put this tunnel under the mountain. Then they restored the gap back to what it was before the road and the way it would have been when Daniel Boone would have crossed over.

Back in Kentucky again!

This was the view at the top of the pinnacle.

Astonishing views from up here!

Here is the town of Cumberland Gap.

You could see this storm approaching and it was an amazing sight to see!

We had a wonderful time and learned so much about God's Providence in this region and how He used men like Daniel Boone to do His will in spreading the Good News of Jesus!