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Cumberland Mountains

The Cumberland Mountains are a mountain range in the southeastern section of the Appalachian Mountains. They are located in western Virginia, southwestern West Virginia, the eastern edges of Kentucky, and eastern middle Tennessee, including the Crab Orchard Mountains.[1] Their highest peak, with an elevation of 4,223 feet (1,287 m) above mean sea level, is High Knob, which is located near Norton, Virginia.

Cumberland Mountains

4,223 ft (1,287 m)

131 mi (211 km)

20 mi (32 km)

United States

According to the USGS, the Cumberland Mountain range is 131 miles (211 km) long and 20 miles (32 km) wide, bounded by the Russell Fork on the northeast, the Pound River and Powell River on the southeast, Cove Creek on the southwest, and Tackett Creek, the Cumberland River, Poor Fork Cumberland River, and Elkhorn Creek on the northwest. The crest of the range forms the Kentucky and Virginia boundary from the Tennessee border to the Russell Fork River.[1]


Variant names of the Cumberland Mountains include Cumberland Mountain, Cumberland Range, Ouasioto Mountains, Ouasiota Mountains, Laurel Mountain, and Pine Mountain.[1] They are named for Prince William, Duke of Cumberland.[2]


The Cumberland Mountains range includes Pine Mountain, Cross Mountain, Cumberland Mountain, Log Mountain, Little Black Mountain, and Black (Big Black) Mountain, as well as others.

Conservation[edit]

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, Tennessee) is involved with the conservation of the mixed mesophytic forests within the northern Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. The conservation organizations include The Nature Conservancy, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and the Natural Resources Defense Council with focus on the Cumberland Plateau.[3]

Finger, J. R. (2001) Indiana University Press.

Tennessee Frontiers: Three Regions in Transition

Cumberland Plateau

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

. The New Student's Reference Work . 1914.

"Cumberland Mountains"