Index | Cumberland Mountains and River


Cumberland Mountains and River: Named by the English (1748) in honor of the Duke of Cumberland, at that time prime minister of England, name applied by Dr. Thomas Walker, an explorer. From Anglo-Saxon, "comb," "a valley or low place," a land of hollows." The North Carolina section of the mountains known to the Indians as Wasioto. The river known as the Shawanee and Gelisipi.