In Virginia, visit Pinnacle Overlook (2440 feet elevation) in Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, above Middlesboro, Kentucky and Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. From Pinnacle Overlook, see Tristate Peak where the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia meet, as resolved in 1803. The pass of Cumberland Gap (elevation 1600 feet / 488 meters) is famous in American history as the chief passageway through the central Appalachian Mountains and as an important part of the Wilderness Road. Long used by Native Americans, the path was widened by a team of loggers led by Daniel Boone, making it accessible to pioneers, who used it to journey into the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee. The gap was formed by a southward flowing ancient creek which cut through tectonically uplifted mountains. As the land lifted, the creek reversed direction, flowing into the Cumberland River to the north.
Nearby, stop by Clinch Mountain Lookout, near Bean Station, Tennessee, to ogle Cherokee Lake, dammed by the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) on the Holston River in 1941.