, 1790 : According to family accounts, including Fred Noe III, Jacob Beam and Mary Beam traveled through the Cumberland Gap in Western Maryland toward Kentucky, bringing his distilling equipment on a wagon. Jacob and Mary were two of over 300,000 people to move west from 1775 to 1800. The image above is an oil painting of Daniel Boone, the trailblazing pioneer of the Cumberland Gap.
Source: Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers through the Cumberland Gap (George Caleb Bingham, oil on canvas, 1851–52; https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/wilderness-road