Cumberland Narrows | |
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Elevation | 620 ft (189 m) |
Traversed by | U.S. Route 40, the National Road |
Location | Allegany County, Maryland, U.S. |
Range | Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians |
Coordinates | 39°40′05″N 78°47′07″W / 39.668075°N 78.785276°W |
Topo map | USGS Cumberland |
The Cumberland Narrows (or simply The Narrows[1]) is a water gap in western Maryland in the United States, just west of Cumberland. Wills Creek cuts through the central ridge of the Wills Mountain Anticline at a low elevation here between Wills Mountain to the north and Haystack Mountain to the south. Cliffs and talus of the two mountains' Tuscarora quartzite caprock 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.
The geological features of the Narrows provide Cumberland a western backdrop of the two mountains with a narrow gap between them.