Demonstrations at the Festival will include, but not be limited to, fire-starting, flax-processing, blacksmithing, cooking, spinning, black-powder presentations, and frontier games. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity!
The Frontier Harvest Festival at the Wilderness Road Blockhouse will be held next Saturday October 28 at Natural Tunnel State Park in Duffield, VA. Period-dressed reenactors will be providing various demonstrations from 1-5pm all across the grounds of the Blockhouse. This is a free event! Don’t miss out!
The Warriors of AniKituhwa will be performing at the Natural Tunnel State Park Amphitheater on Saturday May 20 at 7pm. This is a free family-friendly event, but the $4 per car parking fee will still apply.
Saturday, April 29
10:00 a.m. SAR Wreath Laying Ceremony
10:30 a.m. The Scots-Irish in Revolutionary America (Visitor Center)
11:00 a.m. Horseback Riders Headed for Kentucky (Blockhouse Area)
11:30 a.m. Tory-Patriot Skirmish (Blockhouse Area)
1:00 p.m. Slave Narrative: Jane’s Story (Dog Trot by Blacksmith Shop)
1:30 p.m. Cherokee Language Workshop (Micah Swimmer)
2:30 p.m. Kids Militia and Black Powder Demonstration
3:30 p.m. Frontier Auction and Hilarity (Auction Tent)
5:00 p.m. Hayride
Sunday, April 30
11:00 a.m. Frontier Church service
12:30 p.m. Finger Food and Light Refreshments
1:00 p.m. –
3:00 p.m. Please enjoy visiting with our demonstrators and presenters
All Day/Both Days
Blockhouse historical tours, flax to linen processing, soap making, candle making, salt boiling, Colonial Period toys and games, blacksmithing, fire starting, hide tanning, powder horn making and scrimshaw techniques, food drying and preserving, sewing, and cord making. Frontier Music will be presented by the Washington County Fife and Drum Band, the Smith Brothers, and Jim Wolfe.
Important Notes to Our Visitors:
To our friends with pets: we need to remind you that pets must be restrained on a leash at all times and MUST NOT be led near or around any horses, as this could cause serious injuries should a horse become excitable!!! Pets are not allowed inside historical buildings or structures. Owners are expected to walk their pets far away from the historical viewing areas and to clean up after them in areas where visitors may be walking. Thank you.
The Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association is not allowed by public health regulations to feed any visitors from the cook fires or cooking preparation areas. Only registered volunteers may eat this food. Hot dogs and other snacks will be available for our visitors from Park vendors in front of the Interpretive Center and Museum. Thank you.
The Frontier Muster and Trade Faire will be held at the Wilderness Road Blockhouse at Natural Tunnel State Park on Saturday April 29 from 10-5 and Sunday April 30 from 10-3. Demonstrations will include fire-starting, flax processing, cooking, salt-making, tanning, 18th century games, and much more. And with all the English loyalists running around there is bound to be some confrontation!
Due to current weather condition the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association has decided to cancel the Old Christmas Program.
This Saturday January 7 from 5-7pm the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association will be celebrating Old Christmas at the Wilderness Road Blockhouse at Natural Tunnel State Park.
Learn about traditions of the past and enjoy some delicious stack cake, cookies, and cider.
Volunteers from the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association will be at the Carter Cabin on Friday and Saturday nights from now through December 23rd for the 17th Annual Christmas Lighting of the Tunnel Program. We will be at the Carter Cabin from 6-10pm talking about life on the frontier in the late 18th Century, and of course about the cabin itself. Come by and enjoy this festive event in beautiful Natural Tunnel State Park.
For more information click here to view the flyer.
Don’t forget to stop by the Wilderness Road Blockhouse this Saturday from 1-5 to check out all the demonstrations of various frontier skills that we’ll be offering. This is a free program and all ages are welcome to attend.
The Frontier Harvest Festival will take place on October 22 from 1-5pm. Demonstrations will be ongoing throughout the day. This is a free program but parking fees will apply.
The Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association has published a history of the Blockhouse that was built in 1775 on the North Fork of the Holston by John Anderson. His fortified home became a landmark along the road west, the Wilderness Road, marked by Daniel Boone that same year. Over the next thirty years, some 300,000 people passed Anderson’s home on their journey through Cumberland Gap and on into what would become the state of Kentucky, and further westward.
William L. Anderson, a direct descendant of John, has written a well-researched book that tells the story, the history of the home that became known to posterity as “The Blockhouse,” and its part in the expansion westward of our new nation. The Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association is proud to offer this book that tells, for the first time in such detail, the very significant part played in our nation’s history by the pioneer settlers of the western frontier during the last quarter of the eighteenth century.
Also included in the book are many brief biographies of significant players in the story, maps, an article on Fort Blackmore, and the diary of early explorer Dr. Thomas Walker.
The book may be purchased for $19.95 at Natural Tunnel State Park at the Visitor’s Center and at the Wilderness Road Blockhouse Interpretive Center (276-940-2674) and at the law offices of Lisa Ann McConnell in Duffield. Or contact Robert E. McConnell at roberte@mounet.com or 276-452-4520
