Boone Trace 1775

Please note that we have added a new button to our About page entitled 1775 Boone Trace. Our friend and DBWTA member, Randell Jones has been working on this interactive map for several months and has offered its use to groups who are working up and down the Boone Historic Corridor to preserve the original pathway that Boone blazed in 1775. We appreciate the opportunity to support Randell’s work and to offer this interactive map for our readers’ use.
Randell is a highly acclaimed author, lecturer, and storyteller from North Carolina. Linking to the map will not only give you a sense of Boone’s movements between the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina to Fort Boonesborough in Kentucky, it will also give you access to extensive information about Randell’s many books dealing with the early frontier in North Carolina, Southwestern Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and beyond as the Westward Movement progressed. We know you will enjoy learning about his many publications, and we appreciate being able to offer our readers access to this excellent interactive map.

Please follow the link below to take the tour.

Button for link to Boone Trace 1775

Lost in the Wander

Beginning on March 10, Curtis Penix, an avid hiker from Monroe, Michigan plans to walk in the footsteps of his 5X great grandfather, Joshua Penix, who arrived at Fort Boonesborough in 1779. Curtis plans a 16-day hike along Boone Trace, as did his grandfather, beginning at Kingsport, TN on March 10 and terminating at Fort Boonesborough March 26.

He will walk the entire route, carry his own food and sleep under the stars. Others have traveled the general route of the Trace; but, Penix will hike the Trace using the primitive trails as much as possible. The Boone Trace was the first road ever blazed into Kentucky.

Penix says “I thought it would be interesting to travel the road my ancestor had traveled. Even though this road helped to carry 300,000 pioneers into the land we now know as Kentucky, it does not exist today as a singular route. Much of the old path has been paved

over as residential streets or 2 lane highway. The portions which followed creeks were abandoned for wider roadways and left to grow over. Much has been tilled under for agriculture. Most of the original Boone Trace has been lost the way an artist would paint over the original painting on a canvas. In order to walk with Joshua, I need to peel back the layers of new paint to reveal the original masterpiece that Boone and his men created.”

You can follow the progress of Curtis Penix through his website, facebook and twitter feeds. To get to his website just follow the link below.

Button for Lost in the Wander

Old Christmas at the Blockhouse – CANCELLED

Muzzleloader blasts at Bh ATTENTION

Due to inclement weather the Old Christmas Program has been CANCELLED.

 

 

Lighting of the Tunnel – Natural Tunnel State Park

fireWe’ll be at the Carter Cabin at Natural Tunnel State Park from 6-9pm every Friday and Saturday until Christmas for the Christmas Lighting of the Tunnel Programs.

After enjoying marshmallows, hot chocolate, Santa Clause, live entertainment and all the other festivities at the mouth of the tunnel walk on over to the Carter Cabin to hear our interpreters talk about the history of the cabin and other local history.

Garden dedicated to longtime volunteer – Jean Livingston Brown

Jean Livingston Brown has been a Natural Tunnel State Park volunteer and Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association reenactor for many years. Click here to access the full article and photos!

 

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Unsung Heroes: Bob McConnell has established ‘a living legacy’ (article from Kingsport Times News)

Bob McConnell has lived his entire life in Scott County, Va., and his volunteer record reflects the passion and devotion he has for his hometown area. If you have ever visited the Daniel Boone Wilderness Road Trail or enjoyed a visit to The Blockhouse and The Wilderness Road Blockhouse Visitor Center in Natural Tunnel State Park in Duffield, Va., you have benefited from the contributions of McConnell.