Cumberland Gap : a symbol of American identity : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

Abstract

This thesis argues that the Cumberland Gap has served as an important symbol in shaping American national identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the nineteenth century, the Gap became intertwined with the legend of Daniel Boone. In the twentieth, it became an icon in Frederick Jackson Turner’s interpretation of the American frontier. The introduction briefly discusses Turner’s thesis, The Significance of the Frontier in American History, and its application to Cumberland Gap. Part I examines the history of Cumberland gap and the historical activities of Daniel Boone in earliest Kentucky. Boone’s legendary exploits as a pathfinder on the frontier before, during, and after the American revolutionary Era provided Americans with one component of their national identity. Part II focuses on the Cumberland gap National Historical Park and the preservation of the historical landscape. The park links its interpretation of the Gap to the mythical Boone, but in its efforts to return the Gap to its eighteenth-century appearance, it perpetuates a Turnerian view of the frontier. The National Park Service has transformed the region into a symbol of American identity on two levels. The park symbolizes the role of the frontier in American history. The tunnel, a great feat in the field of civil engineering, resonates with the words of Turner. It is now literally possible to stand at Cumberland gap and watch the waves of progress pass by. In its entirety, this thesis reveals the continuous role of the dual mythologies of Daniel Boone and Frederick Jackson Turner in shaping American national identity.