The Genealogy Jamboree and Pioneer Days, an annual event celebrating its 10th year, is gearing up to take over Cumberland Gap this Friday and Saturday. .

The Jamboree posts up on Colwyn Avenue and offers a variety of genealogy related tents and vendors.

The event is free for the whole family to enjoy where you can learn all about your genealogical history and heritage.

You can also see the lifestyles of our pioneer ancestors and watch demonstrations from craftsmen and women, Native Americans and other re-enactors at the event. You can even talk one-on-one with re-enactors to learn the history they portray.

Everything from genealogical societies, historical societies, crafters and re-enactors will be attending the event. The event specializes in local history and it offers guests a chance to learn how to begin research into their own genealogy. There are also genealogy and history lectures for the Cumberland Gap slated.

Other activities will include demonstrations on how local ancestors lived day to day, such as how they made soap, various clothing, baskets, chairs and even blacksmithing.

“An Iron Will” festival will also be taking place in conjunction with the jamboree. Visitors will be able to step back in time and immerse themselves in another fascinating chapter of the area’s rich history.

Two hundred years ago in 1819, an iron furnace was built below what is known as Gap Cave, utilizing for its operation the stream from the cave.

This year’s Jamboree will also celebrate an important milestone for the region — the 250 year anniversary of Daniel Boone’s first passage through Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky in the year of 1769. This passage is known to history buffs as “The Gateway to the West.”

The most prominent genealogists who will be attending the event will be the Boone Society, a nonprofit association of historians, descendants and genealogists who dedicate their time to studying the Boone family. They were formed as a reference service for other historians and genealogists as well as a clearing house for bibliographies.