Cumberland

/kum"beuhr leuhnd/, n.

1. a former county in NW England, now part of Cumbria.

2. a town in N Rhode Island. 27,069.

3. a city in NW Maryland, on the Potomac River. 25,933.

4. a river flowing W from SE Kentucky through N Tennessee into the Ohio River. 687 mi. (1106 km) long.

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(as used in expressions)

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

Cumberland Plateau

Cumberland River

Cumberland Sound

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▪ Maryland, United States

      city, seat (1789) of Allegany county, northwestern Maryland, U.S. It lies in a bowl-shaped valley in the narrow panhandle region between Pennsylvania (north) and West Virginia (south), bounded by the Potomac River to the south. It is situated at the entrance to Cumberland Narrows, a natural gateway carved by Wills Creek through the Allegheny Mountains west to the Ohio River valley. Settled in 1750 as a trading post by the Ohio Company, it was first known as Will's Creek. The town was laid out again in 1785 and was renamed in 1786 for Fort Cumberland, which had been built in 1754 and named for William Augustus, duke of Cumberland; the fort was headquarters for Lieutenant Colonel George Washington (Washington, George) and General Edward Braddock (Braddock, Edward) in the French and Indian War. Cumberland developed into a transportation centre: it was made the eastern terminus (1811) of the Cumberland (National) Road (Cumberland Road) and the western terminus (1850) of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and in 1842 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad came through.

      Cumberland was occupied by Union troops during the American Civil War. On February 21, 1865, two sleeping Union generals, Benjamin Kelley and George Crook (Crook, George), were captured there by Captain John McNeill's Rangers. Coal mining, diversified manufactures (railroad equipment, fibreglass boats, and children's clothing), and outdoor recreation are the economic mainstays. The main campus of Allegany College of Maryland (1961) is in Cumberland. Inc. town, 1815; city, 1856. Pop. (1990) city, 23,706; Cumberland MSA, 101,643; (2000) city, 21,518; Cumberland MSA, 102,008.

▪ county, Maine, United States

      county, southwestern Maine, U.S. It largely consists of a coastal region, facing Casco Bay to the southeast, that includes many islands, although the terrain rises to the northwest. The centre of the county is dominated by Sebago Lake. The principal waterways are the Fore, Presumpscot, and Royal rivers. The Songo Lock, constructed in 1830 and rebuilt in 1911, connects Sebago Lake with Long Lake to the northwest. White and red pine are the dominant species of trees. Parklands include Sebago Lake, Bradbury Mountain, Crescent Beach, Wolf Neck Woods, Two Lights, and Scarborough Beach state parks.

      Cumberland county was created in 1760 and named for William Augustus, duke of Cumberland (Cumberland, William Augustus, Duke of). The county seat is Portland, the largest city in the state and a former state capital (1820–32). Settled by the French and English, it became a major seaport by the mid-19th century, attracting immigrants from Scandinavia, Ireland, Italy, and Great Britain. It is also the seat of the University of Southern Maine (founded 1878). Portland and its surrounding cities (South Portland and Westbrook) and towns (Freeport, Scarborough, and Gorham) help make Cumberland the most populous county in the state. Pejepscot Indians were early inhabitants of Brunswick, where Bowdoin College (founded 1794) is located. Cape Elizabeth contains two historic lighthouses—Portland Head Light (erected 1791) and Two Lights (erected 1828; replaced 1874). From 1884 until his death in 1910, artist Winslow Homer (Homer, Winslow) perfected his sketches of the rugged coastal landscape in his studio in Prouts Neck.

      Local manufactures include pulp and paper products, electronic components, lumber and wood, footwear, and food products. Tourism and health care services also are important. Area 836 square miles (2,164 square km). Pop. (2000) 265,612; (2007 est.) 275,374.

▪ county, New Jersey, United States

      county, southwestern New Jersey, U.S. It consists of a coastal lowland bounded by the Delaware River and Bay to the south, Stow Creek to the west, the Maurice River to the north, the Tuckahoe River to the northeast, and West Creek to the southeast. Other waterways include Union Lake and the Cohansey and Manumuskin rivers. The major forest types are oak and hickory as well as loblolly and shortleaf pine. The swampy shoreline includes several bay inlets, salt marshes, and wildlife management areas.

      Algonquian-speaking Delaware Indians inhabited the region when European settlers arrived in the 17th century. In December 1774, before the outbreak of the American Revolution, protesters burned shipments of tea in Greenwich. Millville contains Wheaton Village, a restored 19th-century glassmaking community. Bridgeton, the county seat, has one of the largest historic districts in New Jersey. In the 19th century T.B. Welch developed a method of preserving grape juice without fermentation, and John L. Mason perfected the manufacture of glass jars for the home canning of foods; both were residents of Vineland, which has the largest area of any city in the state.

      Cumberland county was created in 1748 and named for William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (Cumberland, William Augustus, Duke of). The main economic activities are agriculture (vegetables and fruit) and manufacturing (glassware and preserved foods). Area 489 square miles (1,267 square km). Pop. (2000) 146,438; (2007 est.) 155,544.

▪ county, Pennsylvania, United States

      county, south-central Pennsylvania, U.S. It consists of a hilly region in the Appalachian Ridge and Valley physiographic province bounded to the north by Blue Mountain, to the east by the Susquehanna River, to the southeast by Yellow Breeches Creek, and to the south by the Blue Ridge Mountains (Blue Ridge). Conodoguinet Creek and the Appalachian National Scenic Trail cross the county. Parklands include Michaux State Forest and Colonel Denning, Kings Gap, and Pine Grove Furnace state parks.

      Shippensburg (founded 1730), one of the first white settlements in Pennsylvania west of the Susquehanna River, was replaced by Carlisle as the county seat in 1751. Carlisle, the home of Dickinson College (1773), was the eastern terminus of the Pennsylvania Turnpike (1940), one of the first limited-access express highways in the United States; it connected Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. The county was created in 1750 and named for William Augustus, duke of Cumberland (Cumberland, William Augustus, Duke of). Famous residents of Carlisle include Molly Pitcher (Pitcher, Molly), heroine of the Battle of Monmouth Court House (Monmouth, Battle of) (1778) during the U.S. War of Independence (American Revolution), and Jim Thorpe (Thorpe, Jim), Olympic athlete and professional gridiron-football player who was trained by Glenn Scobey (“Pop”) Warner (Warner, Pop) at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

      Cumberland county contains many suburbs of nearby Harrisburg such as Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, New Cumberland, and Lemoyne. The primary economic activities are services, retail trade, manufacturing (electronic components and textiles), and agriculture (field crops, livestock, and dairy products). Area 550 square miles (1,425 square km). Pop. (2000) 213,674; (2007 est.) 228,019.

▪ historical county, England, United Kingdom

      historic county, extreme northwestern England, bounded on the north by Scotland, on the east by the historic counties of Northumberland and Durham, and on the south by the historic counties of Westmorland and Lancashire. Cumberland is presently part of the administrative county of Cumbria.

      Cumberland lies along the northwest coast of England, facing the Solway Firth and the Irish Sea. A narrow coastal plain rises in the south to the Cumbrian Mountains, which reach an elevation of 3,210 feet (978 metres) at Scafell Pike, the highest point in England. These mountains surround the scenic Lake District, part of which lies in Cumberland. The lower part of the fertile Vale of Eden (Eden, Vale of) lies at the centre of the county. The historic county town (seat), Carlisle, stands where this valley broadens to meet the coastal plain in the north. To the east the Pennines form the border with Northumbria and Durham.

 Evidence of Bronze Age occupation includes stone circles, notably Long Meg and Her Daughters (near Little Selkeld) and Castlerigg Circle (near Keswick). Between 122 and 126 CE the Roman emperor Hadrian constructed the great wall complex between Wallsend in Northumberland and Bowness-on-Solway in Cumberland ( Hadrian's Wall). The Roman occupation was primarily military, and Carlisle, then called Luguvallium, was the main civilian settlement. St. Ninian (Ninian, Saint) brought Christianity to Cumberland in the late 4th century. In the 7th century the kingdom of Northumbria conquered the area, then known as Cumbria, whose people were Celtic-speaking Britons. The name Cumbria, like Cambria, is a Latinized version of the Welsh Cymry or Cymru (now applied exclusively to Wales).

      Danes and Norsemen from Ireland or the Isle of Man raided Cumbria in the 9th century. In 945 Edmund I ravaged all “Cumbraland”—first mentioned by that name—and handed it over to the Scottish king Malcolm I in return for a promise of military support. (The area of Cumbraland then presumably included the southwest of present-day Scotland as well as the region that became Cumberland.) The earls of Northumbria controlled part of the county in the first half of the 11th century, but by 1068 the king of the Scots had taken the area, nearly all of which lay outside William the Conqueror's kingdom. In 1092 a vassal of the Scottish king ruled Carlisle, when it was captured by King William II (William Rufus), who repaired the city, ordered the building of Carlisle Castle and sent settlers to claim the land. Place-names with the suffix by following a Norman personal name reflect immigration from the south about this time. The land was briefly recaptured by the Scots, but the historic county of Cumberland, established by 1177, remained a part of England.

      Because of its border position, Cumberland was the scene of constant strife and much bloodshed from the Middle Ages until after the union of the English and Scottish crowns in 1603. Although many of the inhabitants of the county supported the Stuart cause during the English Civil Wars, active backing for the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745 was limited. It was only after the 1745 rebellion that Cumberland became more closely linked to the rest of England. Roads were built or improved, trade increased, and the Lake District became popular throughout England for its picturesque scenery.

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