Daniel Boone - In person

After enjoying the presentation of the siege of Boonesborough, we decided to visit the place where it actually took place.  Boonesborough is about an hour and a half from our home.  On the drive down and back we enjoyed the beautiful fall colors and listened to more of Undaunted.  The location of the original fort was very near the beautiful Kentucky River.  A re-creation of the fort is near, but higher up the hill. 

I was surprised how large the fort is.  As you enter it, you are directed to a well-produced orientation movie that explains why the fort was built and about the siege.  Then you can move from room to room around the perimeter of the fort.  The first showed what a room might have looked like shortly after the fort was built - dirt floor, straw bed right on the dirt, a fireplace - and nothing else.  That would have been primitive lodgings.  The next room showed a period a little later: there was a wood floor, a little nicer bed; but not much more.  The next two rooms showed what it would have been like in later periods as wagons brought more niceties from the east (nicer beds, chests and dressers).  It was interesting to watch the progression from hovels to ... well, even the nicest rooms were a far, far cry from the Marriott.

The rest of the rooms housed demonstrations of different activities that would have taken place during the period when the fort was used.  We spoke with a weaver as she made cloth.  She talked about the different looms, materials and weaves.  We also spoke to a gun maker / tool maker.  He showed different items he had made by hand; including a club similiar to what the Indians might have used to beat (if not kill) individuals that had to run the gauntlet - it would have been awful to have been hit by something like that.  Finally, we spoke to a tinsmith and watched him make a pewter cup.  He thought he was the only working tinsmith employing methods of the 1700's.  We also saw rooms for woodworking, blacksmithing, candle making and soap making.  I also enjoyed the gift shop; purchasing a book that is a compilation of the journal accounts of those who experienced the siege.  I think I will really enjoy reading their own words about the event.

As we were close by, we visited the Cassius Clay mansion.  He was an emancipationist from the 19th century who lived in the south - as you might imagine, it got him into a lot of trouble.  He was also a friend of Abraham and Mary Lincoln; there is even an original signed document from Lincoln on displace.  The mansion is truly beautiful.

We had a great trip.  Wish you all could have been with us.