In 1775, frontiersman Daniel Boone blazed a trail through the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian Mountains located near the intersection of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee, through the interior of Kentucky and to the Ohio River. The Wilderness Road was steep, rough and narrow, and could only be traversed on foot or horseback.
The trail served as a pathway to the western United States for settlers over the next 35 years. Boone's pioneering path led to the establishment of the first settlements in Kentucky.
By 1840, use of the Wilderness Road had declined, as advances in engineering had enabled waterway travel via the Erie Canal and through the rivers of the Ohio Valley. Cumberland Gap later became part of the National Parks System, and portions of the Wilderness Road were included in Wilderness Road State Park.
