Three Sisters Garden at the Wilderness Road Blockhouse
Follow this link to watch a short clip narrated by William Cawood that discusses the Three Sisters Garden at the Wilderness Road Blockhouse at Natural Tunnel State Park.
DBWTA Meeting Reminder – September 18, 2015 at 12pm
Association Members:
The DBWTA is scheduled to meet this coming Friday, September 18 at 12pm. Lunch will be available for $8 per person. Please remember to RSVP to Gretchen Cope by this Wednesday if you plan to attend.
Photography workshop with Diane Watts Copas
As part of the Mountains of Music cultural events schedule, The Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association will be sponsoring a photography “Trail Talk” on Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. entitled “How to Get the Most Out of Your Digital Camera.” This hands-on workshop will be held at the Blockhouse Visitor Center at Natural Tunnel State Park and will be led by Diane Watts Copas, well-known regional photographer and long-time friend of the Wilderness Trail Association. Whether you take pictures with an expensive SLR camera or on your handy cell phone, Ms. Copas will be offering tips and techniques on how to improve your picture-taking skills. The workshop will begin at 10 a.m. with a short lecture and demonstration, and then the participants will move around the park together to consider various lighting and framing situations. This is a great opportunity to learn how to turn simple vacation pictures into family treasures.
This “Trail Talk” is free and is open to the public. We do need to know how many to expect, however, so please make a reservation before June 18 by calling Gretchen at 276-940-2696 or Megan at 276-940-1643
Mountains of Music Homecoming
In conjunction with the Crooked Road’s Mountains of Music Homecoming the Anderson Blockhouse will be open to visitors on the following dates and times:
June 12th from 10-1pm
June 13th from 2-4pm
June 14th from 2-4pm
June 15th from 10-4pm
June 16th 
from 10-4pm
June 17th from 10-4pm
June 18th from 10-4pm
June 19th from 2-4pm
June 20th from 2-4pm
For more information on the Mountains of Music Homecoming visit their website.
The Virginia Project
The Friends of Wilderness Road State Park are selling raffle tickets for various handmade accouterments with proceeds to go toward the construction of a Native American Camp at the park. For those of you interested in purchasing tickets you can do so at The Wilderness Road State Park Visitor Center.
The Anderson Blockhouse
The Anders
on Blockhouse will be open to visitors on Saturdays and Sundays from 2-4pm beginning in May as well as for special events. Stop by and learn about the Anderson Family and the Blockhouse and the roll it played on the Frontier. Also discover what life was like on the Frontier in the late 18the Century.
Spring Muster and Trade Fair at the Blockhouse! Saturday, April 18 from 10 until after the campfire on Saturday night; Sunday, April 19 from 11 to 3. Bring the whole family!
The Swimmer family is preparing for their trip over to the Blockhouse from Cherokee. Micah will be offering a Cherokee language workshop on Saturday at 1:00, and he and Ogana will be teaching visitors how to play stickball off and on all day.
Blacksmithing on the Frontier – Demonstrations at the Frontier Muster & Trade Faire
It’s almost time for our annual Spring Muster and Trade Faire, April 18 and 19, at the Blockhouse, Natural Tunnel State Park. Bring the family and come on out.
Blacksmithing was an essential skill on the frontier. Every nail was made by hand. Every horse had to be shod. Every hinge, tool, and knife blade was produced at the forge. Come out and meet our expert blacksmith, Mark Ramsey, and watch him work. He’ll be glad to answer your questions and explain what he is doing.
We are really geared up for the annual Spring Muster and Trade Faire on April 18 and 19 at the Blockhouse. Our friend Charlie Brown will have his longhunter camp set up again this year and will be ready to demonstrate essential frontier survival skills such as hide tanning and leather work. He will also have beautiful handmade leather items for sale.
Frontier Muster and Trade Fair
The Frontier Muster and Trade Fair
at the Wilderness Road Blockhouse
at Natural Tunnel State Park
April 18 & 19, 2015
Click here to view the flyer.
About the book: The Blockhouse On The Holston
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