Geology & Water: Gap Creek
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
"Water Falls, Below King Solomon's Cave"
"Muddy Flood Waters of Gap Creek"
"Cudjo's Cave"
"Cudjo's Cave"
Interior of The Gap Cave
Backstory and Context
Author-Uploaded Audio
A newcomer to the gap describes the draw of peaceful waters, followed by a park ranger's perspective on geology, caves, and water.
Text-to-speech Audio
Earth and water have collaborated for many, many years to form the landscape we experience here now. During early mountain-building events, fault movement weakened the bedrock, which then weathered away to carve out the physical gap in the Cumberland Mountains — a geological phenomena that has carved out the Cumberland Gap’s place in history. This geological-good-fortune drew folks to the gap for passage and countless travelers (human and non-human) have drank from the fresh waters that emerge from Gap Cave. Having gone by “King Solomon’s Cave,” “Soldiers Cave,” and simply yet most famously, “Cudjo’s Cave,” Gap Cave is composed of at least thirty miles and three levels of passages, corridors, and caverns. Its interior, adorned with calcite crystals, includes one of the world’s largest known stalagmites, a 65 feet high giant called “the Pillar of Hercules” that is thought to be eighty-five million years old. Subterranean streams found in the first two levels of Gap Cave have provided the town of Cumberland Gap with water for generations.
Sources
Page, Bonnie M.. The Cumberland Region (In Picture - Then and Now). Jacksboro, TN. Action Printing, 1997.
Claiborne County Historical Society. The People’s History of Claiborne County Tennessee 1801-1988. Waynesville, NC. Walsworth Publishing Co., 2003.
The Bell County Historical Society
Photography by Caroline Hatfield
Bell County Historical Society
Bell County Historical Society
National Park Service