The Cumberland Narrows is a water gap

Water gap

A water gap is an opening or notch which flowing water has carved through a mountain range. Water gaps often offer a practical route for road and rail transport to cross mountain ridges.- Geology :...

 in western Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, just west of Cumberland, Maryland

Cumberland, Maryland

Cumberland is a city in the far western, Appalachian portion of Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Allegany County, and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,859, and the metropolitan area had a...

. Wills Creek

Wills Creek (North Branch Potomac River)

Wills Creek is a tributary of the North Branch Potomac River in Pennsylvania and Maryland in the United States.Wills Creek drops off the Allegheny Mountains of southeastern Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and enters the North Branch Potomac River at Cumberland, Maryland.-History:thumb|220px|Fort...

 cuts through the central ridge of the Wills Mountain Anticline at a low elevation here between Wills Mountain

Wills Mountain

Wills Mountain is a quartzite-capped ridge in the Ridge and Valley physiographic province of the Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania and Maryland, USA, extending from near Bedford, Pennsylvania to near Cumberland, Maryland...

 to the north and Haystack Mountain

Haystack Mountain (Maryland)

Haystack Mountain is a mountain ridge in the Ridge and Valley region of the Appalachian Mountains, located in western Maryland just west of the city of Cumberland...

 to the south. Cliffs and talus

Scree

Scree, also called talus, is a term given to an accumulation of broken rock fragments at the base of crags, mountain cliffs, or valley shoulders. Landforms associated with these materials are sometimes called scree slopes or talus piles...

 of the two mountains' Tuscarora

Tuscarora Formation

The Silurian Tuscarora Formation — also known as Tuscarora Sandstone or Tuscarora Quartzite — is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia.-Description:...

 quartzite

Quartzite

Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...

 caprock

Caprock

The Caprock is a region in the Panhandle of Texas . It is the land to the west of the Caprock Escarpment, which separates it from plains stretching to the east at a much lower elevation....

 are prominent within the Narrows. A prominent rocky outcropping at the south end of Wills Mountain in the Cumberland Narrows is known as Lover's Leap

Lover's Leap

Lovers' Leap , is a toponym given to a number of locations of varying height, usually isolated, with the risk of a fatal fall and the possibility of a deliberate jump...

.

The geological features of the Narrows provide Cumberland a western backdrop of the two mountains with a narrow gap between them.

Geography

The Cumberland Narrows serves as a western gateway from Cumberland to the Appalachian Plateau

Appalachian Plateau

The Appalachian Plateau is the western part of the Appalachian mountains, stretching from New York and Alabama. The plateau is a second level United States physiographic region....

 and the Ohio River Valley

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

 beyond. The Old National Road, now Alternate U.S. 40

U.S. Route 40 Alternate

U.S. Route 40 Alternate may refer to:*U.S. Route 40 Alternate *U.S. Route 40 Alternate *California State Highway 70, formerly U.S. Route 40 Alternate...

, passes through the Narrows, along with the former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

's main line between Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

/Washington

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 and Pittsburgh, now part of the CSX

CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...

 system, and a former line of the Western Maryland Railroad, now used by the steam

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

- and diesel

Diesel locomotive

A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

-powered excursion train

Excursion train

An excursion train is a chartered train run for a special event or purpose.Examples of excursion trains:* A train to a major sporting event* A train run for railfans or tourism...

s of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad

Western Maryland Scenic Railroad

The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad is a heritage railroad based in Cumberland, Maryland. It operates over ex-Western Maryland Railway trackage to Frostburg, Maryland and back using both steam and diesel locomotives....

.

Lover's Leap

The rocky outcropping known as Lover's Leap

Lover's Leap

Lovers' Leap , is a toponym given to a number of locations of varying height, usually isolated, with the risk of a fatal fall and the possibility of a deliberate jump...

 is on Wills Mountain on the northeast side of the Cumberland Narrows. Lover's leap is 1652 feet (503.5 m) above sea level and made up of oddly squared projectories of rock, from its top, all the way down to the National Highway (Alternate U.S. 40) below.

The name comes from a Native American Romeo-and-Juliet legend which tells how a jilted lover met his end by jumping off this ledge.

Inventor Frederick John Bahr

Frederick John Bahr

Frederick John Bahr was an inventor from Baden-Wuerttemburg, Germany, who eventually settled on top of Wills Mountain in Cumberland, Maryland....

 bought Wills Mountain and built his log cabin on top. Lover's leap has been frequently romanticized by postcard pictures of this valley. The most famous post-card photos were taken by George Steward in 1950 and published in the 1953 book, U.S. 40. Also, it is known that the air currents whipping up and around are so strong that a climber cannot be heard from the top once over the lip, nor easily seen due to the projected rock angles.

Today, these rocks high above Wills Creek provide one of the most breathtaking views in the Allegheny Mountains

Allegheny Mountains

The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...

, with Cumberland, the highway, and two railroads nearby below and the surrounding states of Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the distance.

Industry

The Artmor Plastics Corporation was located on the Wills Mountain (northern) side of the Narrows in a former World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 textile factory. Artmor made household items such as plastic dishes and table tops. The factory now houses a museum chronicling the life of Arthur Morgan

Arthur Morgan

Arthur Morgan may refer to:* Arthur Ernest Morgan , U. S. administrator, educator and engineer* Arthur Morgan , Premier of Queensland, Australia...

, Artmor's founder.