Challenge 2020 – 9
Cumberland Pass
Challenge 9 takes us to the historic Cumberland Pass, at the place where Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky meet. Here in this title image we are looking down at the town of Cumberland Pass from the Pinnacle Overlook. You can see from the rocks in the foreground that this is not an aerial photo.
Look closer at the town:
The pass and the town have been reshaped by history again and again. The pioneers came on horseback and with wagons. They laboriously built a road to open the way to the west. This became the legendary gateway across the Appalachian mountains. Then came the railroad and the tunnel builders. The railroad was updated and rerouted. You can see the modern tracks on the right in the image. If you look closely you will see shadow on the main street – apparently from a box. That is a covered bridge on an earlier railway right-of-way. Let you eye follow to the right and you will see another covered bridge. Let’s visit that one.
In the distance beyond the town, in the top image, you can see the modern interstate highway. Nowadays we are oblivious of the pain and travails the folks in earlier days had to go through.
It is just a quick dash through the modern tunnel, hardly any need to slow down.
On top of the “gap”, the renowned pass, looked like this a hundred years ago. We see it on a trail-side sign.
The old road has been turned over to nature. There is just a hiking path there now, almost the way it was in the pioneer days.
.:. © 2020 Ludwig Keck
Two Cameras - Two Views 