Everything You Need to Know About Daniel Boone – American Frontiersman and Founder of Kentucky
Today is National Boone Day, celebrating the explorer who first began exploring the forests of what are now known as our home state of Kentucky. Boone was born on November 2, 1734 . Importantly, he founded the village of Boonesborough, Kentucky which was one of the first settlements of west Appalachia (much of what today is also known as coal county.) He was a pioneer, explorer, and was known as one of the first folk heroes of the US. Not only was he an explorer and solider, but he was also a woodsman, businessman and a politician.
In his earlier years, Boone farmed, hunted, and sold fur to make money . This resulted in his exploration of various routes to go west. In 1775, Boone trail-blazed The Wilderness Trail from North Carolina, Tennessee, Cumberland Gap, into the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky.
During the war, Boone worked with trader John Findley, who told him about the west of the Appalachian Mountains called “Kentucke,” a place rich with wild game and opportunity. Findley later joined Boone on his first trip to Kentucky.
When Was Kentucky Founded? Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Our State.
In 1756, he married Rebecca Bryan, living in a cabin on his father’s farm with their 10 children. In 1778, Daniel Boone was captured by the Shawnee Warriors as a militia officer where they adopted him into their tribe. Post the Revolutionary War, he migrated to Missouri where he spent most of the last 20 years of his life. He died at the age of 85 on September 26, 1820.
Daniel Boone ‘s name is honored in Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest, in North Carolina’s town of Boone, and he has several schools named after him nationwide.
The Kentucky Historical Society named June 7th “National Boone Day” over 140 years ago and we’re still celebrating today!
