Cumberland Gap, Road mountain pass in Kentucky, United States.

Cumberland Gap is a natural passage through the Cumberland Mountains at an elevation of 488 meters (1,601 feet) where Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia meet. The pass cuts through the mountain range at the point where three states converge, creating a natural corridor through the highlands.

The gap was first described in writing in the 1670s by Abraham Wood of Virginia, and Samuel Stalnaker is believed to have passed through before 1748. Thomas Walker brought it to settlers' attention in 1750 and gave the name to the Cumberland River. In 1775 Daniel Boone, hired by the Transylvania Company, widened the path; by the 1790s it carried wagons as the Wilderness Road.

The gap takes its name from Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, son of King George II, after the Battle of Culloden; Thomas Walker gave the name to the Cumberland River in 1750, and it spread to the gap. The nearby town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, is also named after the pass.

A national park surrounds the pass and provides hiking trails and viewpoints that allow visitors to see three states at once. The road through the pass remains open year-round, with autumn and spring offering milder weather and better foliage views.

The gap was not cut by streams but by the Rocky Face Fault, which eventually sliced through Cumberland Mountain, and the Middlesboro impact structure added new detail to its formation. Shatter cones, rocks fractured only by impacts, are abundant nearby; Robert Dietz identified them in 1966, and the site became a Kentucky Distinguished Geologic Site in September 2003.