Kentucky Park Open For Two Special Occasions This Holiday Season
Fort Boonesborough State Park Hosts Winter Trade Days After Thanksgiving & A Candlelit Christmas With Bonfires, The 'Christmas Guns', Food & Refreshments And Music & Dance!
These days, we take a trip across the Appalachian Mountains for granted, but in the early days of American settlement, it was a journey filled with danger from hostile Native tribes, wild weather and fierce beasts. No one knew this better than pioneer Daniel Boone, yet he made the trip again and again, determined to find a new and better life for his family and neighbors in the land called back then Transylvania, the “far side of the forest,” now known as Kentucky.
On Boone’s first attempt to bring a group of settlers into Kentucky in 1773, his son James was killed, as well as five other teenage boys in the party. A couple of years later, the pioneer was hired by the Transylvania Company to carve the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap, one of the few natural breaks through the Appalachian range. Despite attacks by Shawnee warriors, Boone and his party of 31 axemen continued on to found the settlement they named Fort Boone, later Boonesborough, the second oldest European settlement in the Kentucky region.
Life on the frontier remained a dangerous business for decades. Many tribes shared the Kentucky region, valued for its rich hunting, and the Shawnee and the Chickamauga refused to sign a treaty. Boone would lose his brother Edward, another son, Israel, and his nephew, Tom, in battles with the Native tribes. More than a thousand incoming settlers were killed during the 1780s, with many more dying of extreme weather.
Fort Boonesborough State Park, located on the Kentucky River south of Lexington, preserves the memory of these early days. “We have a working replica fort, with everything correct to the period of the late 18th century,” Rob Minerich, park manager at Fort Boonesborough, tells The Buzz. “The complex includes a tavern, blockhouses, several cabins, and a recreation of the oldest store in Kentucky, surrounded by a stockade. During our open hours, we have living history interpreters making soap and candles, demonstrations of spinning and weaving, a pottery and an iron forge with a blacksmith at work.”
The fort played an important part in the American Revolution when it was attacked by a combined force of Shawnee and British mercenaries in September, 1778. During the “Great Siege,” hostile forces surrounded the fort for thirteen days. “Boone had been captured by the Indians earlier in the year,” Minerich says. “He overheard his captors talking about the attack and managed to escape and warn the settlers.” The Fort Boonesborough held out against fire arrow attacks and an attempt to tunnel under the stockade. The settlers’ defiance effectively ended British control of the land west of the Appalachians.
Minerich also shares the best known story about Fort Boonesborough, a romantic tale that inspired James Fenimore Cooper’s 1826 classic “The Last of the Mohicans.” In 1776, Boone’s young daughter, Jemina, then 14, and two of her young friends, Elizabeth and Fannie Callaway, went canoeing on the river. When they got close to the opposite shore, intending to pick some flowers, they were captured by a band of native warriors. Daniel and Colonel Callaway, the sisters’ father, formed a rescue party, and brought the girls home unharmed after three days of captivity, thanks largely to Boone’s knowledge of native ways. Romance comes into the story, as the future husbands of all three girls were part of the rescue party, and weddings soon followed.
The exact location of Boone’s original fort was uncertain until archaeologists from the University of Kentucky conducted a dig in 1987. “They found the site down by the river, near our boat ramp,” Minerich says. “You can’t see any remains today, but we’ve got some interpretive signs that tell the story.” Artifacts found during the dig and exhibits on Daniel Boone’s life are located in the replica cabins, and a film telling the fort’s history is shown in one of the blockhouses used as a visitor center. Another cabin houses a new exhibit of recently donated memorabilia, including items related to the Daniel Boone television series, movies and other items documenting the cultural influence of one of America’s most recognized pioneers.
The recreated fort, based upon contemporary drawings and written records, is located near the original location, but on higher ground above the river, Minerich says. Trails lead to the fort from the park’s campground, where 166 sites with hookups are available year-round. The replica fort itself is open from April through October and for special events. Another museum on the grounds, the River Museum, recounts the history of the Kentucky River and the series of locks and dams built to aid navigation beginning in 1836. Lock and Dam No. 10 are located within the state park, and the lockmaster’s house, occupied by several generations of the Walters family, houses exhibits on the history and operation of the locks.
The Fort Boonesborough Foundation takes charge of the park’s historical exhibits and hosts numerous living history events throughout the year. Trade Days, featuring goods found on the frontier in the 1700s, are held in spring and fall, as well as annual workshops on 18th century culinary foodways, bread making, fabric making, charcoal burning and more. Other events include a Gathering of Descendents, a flintlock rifle competition, and a special program for women on skills necessary for survival on the frontier, from growing crops and foraging for food to firing guns and throwing tomahawks. The Foundation’s largest annual event recreates the Great Siege of 1778 every September, with day and night battle reenactments, militia and settlers’ camps, a Native American village, costumed merchants and traders, as well as period food and music.
Fort Boonesborough offers a unique opportunity to step back in time and experience how early settlers survived on the frontier. The daring life led by Daniel Boone and his family provides a fresh perspective on the settlement of the American continent and an appreciation of those dangerous days.
Renee Wright
A graduate of Franconia College in Social Psychology, Renee has worked as Travel Editor for Charlotte Magazine and has written three travel guidebooks for Countryman Press among other writing assignments. She enjoys food and camping.
Make Sure To Stay At:
Fort Boonesborough State Park, where you can enjoy camping on the banks of the Kentucky River. The campground offers 167 sites with electricity and water hookups. An activities building can accommodate 150 people incl. showers, restrooms, & laundry facilities.