Where is Southwest Virginia?
Today, the southwestern edge of Virginia is Cumberland Gap. At one time, however, Virginia stretched much further west. After Virginia ceded its western land claims to the new national government in the 1780’s, the southwestern edge of the state was on the Mississippi River. Kentucky became an independent state in 1792, so at that point Virginia no longer included the Cumberland River watershed west of the Allegheny Front. The shape of Virginia’s western boundaries changed again after West Virginia became an independent state in 1863, leaving only a tiny portion of the Levisa Fork, Big Sandy, and Tug Fork watersheds in what became Southwest Virginia.
