The National Park Service is proposing to increase fees to tour the Hensley settlement at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park/Harold Jerrell

The National Park Service is seeking public comment on proposed changes to recreation fees for guided tours, picnic shelter rentals, and front country camping at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. Fees for guided tours and shelter rentals at the park that straddles the Virginia-Kentucky-Tennessee borders have not changed in at least 15 years. Camping fees were increased in 2022 but remain well below area rates, the National Park Service said in a release.

Entrance into the park will continue to be free. Proposed fee changes are for recreational fees only. Recreational fees collected at Cumberland Gap are reinvested directly back into the park. They provide a vital source of revenue for needed maintenance of picnic shelters, tour vehicles and equipment, and campground facilities; future projects to improve campground amenities; and increasing costs associated with program operations.

The park offers two fee-based guided tours. Guided tours of Gap Cave are typically offered from late April through August each year. Guided tours of Hensley Settlement, a remote and historic Appalachian settlement atop Brush Mountain, are typically offered from mid-May through October each year. Both tours are popular among visitors and in local communities.

In 2023, the park completed a comparability study that included research on guided tours of other caves, historical sites, and similar locations. The study found that current park tour fees are far less than fees charged by others for similar services. The park proposes to increase the fees for both guided tours.

Six picnic shelters in the park are available for rent. These shelters are often used by visitors for family reunions, graduation parties, and other special occasions.

The 2023 comparability study included research on area rates for rental of similar facilities and showed current rental fees are substantially lower than rental fees charged by others in the area for comparable services.

The park proposes to increase picnic shelter rental fees to a range of rates based on the specific features of each shelter. The park also proposes to include an option of renting a picnic shelter for a half-day, at a reduced cost, in addition to the full-day option currently available.

The National Park Service is proposing an increase in fees to camp at the Wilderness Road Campground/NPS

Prior to 2022, fees at Wilderness Road Campground had not increased since 2013. The 2023 comparability study included research on local campground rates and services provided outside the park. This study found that even after the 2022 increase, the park’s camping fees are lower than area rates for similar services. The park proposes to increase these fees.

Additionally, the park proposes to move reservations for picnic shelter rentals and fee-based guided tours onto Recreation.gov. Reservations for front country camping at Wilderness Road Campground have been available on Recreation.gov since 2022. Recreation.gov is the government's trip planning and reservation service for 14 federal agencies, including the National Park Service.

The park proposes to implement fee increases incrementally over the next three years as outlined in the table below.

Park leadership is accepting public comments on the proposed fee increases for a period of 30 days, through September 4. Following public engagement and National Park Service approval, new fees up to the amounts outlined above could be implemented as soon as this October.

Comments may be submitted by email to [email protected] or by mail to: