Boonesborough celebrates 250 years

Highlighting the event was the arrival of hikers from a 200-mile trek along Boone’s Trace

The crowd gath­ered in noisy antic­i­pa­tion as they watched the trav­el­ers approach, some wear­ing buck­skins and broad hats and car­ry­ing long rifles and axes.

The hik­ers were com­plet­ing the last 10-mile leg of a 200-mile jour­ney that began in Kingsport, Tennessee, on April 23 to com­mem­o­rate the 250^th anniver­sary of the blaz­ing of Boone Trace, the first pio­neer path into the Bluegrass.

Although the trail was only a “bri­dle path,” it opened up the American West to set­tle­ment, accord­ing to Dr. John Fox, who head­ed the Kentucky part of the Boone Trace project.

“It was the equiv­a­lent of Neil Armstrong land­ing on the moon in its day,” he said.

The hike was part of the America 250 bicen­ten­ni­al cel­e­bra­tion, and it coin­cid­ed with the com­mem­o­ra­tion of the 250-year anniver­sary of the found­ing of Fort Boonesborough, the most impor­tant set­tle­ment in 18^th cen­tu­ry colo­nial Kentucky. 

Boonesborough was orig­i­nal­ly intend­ed to be the cap­i­tal of a 14^th British roy­al colony, Transylvania, but it soon became a rebel bas­tion of Virginia’s west­ern fron­tier dur­ing the Revolutionary War.

The axe­men, led by Daniel Boone actor Steve Caudill of Winchester, marked the occa­sion by fir­ing a vol­ley from their muz­zle load­ers, fol­lowed by the thun­der of a cannon.

“Boone want­ed the same thing you all want — to freely wor­ship God in the way he want­ed and to have a place to call home,” Caudill said.

Caudill pre­sent­ed a cer­e­mo­ni­al ax to Kristi Heasley, pres­i­dent of the Fort Boonesborough Foundation and one of the main orga­niz­ers of the event held June 7 and 8 at Fort Boonesborough State Park to cel­e­brate the set­tle­ment of Kentucky.

Dr. John Fox, a retired Lexington physi­cian who heads the Boone Trace project to pre­serve the rem­nants of the orig­i­nal trail, pro­mote its his­tor­i­cal sig­nif­i­cance and cre­ate a mul­ti-use path, was com­mend­ed for his work.

According to Fox, the trail, which begins in Kingsport and ends in Winchester, already includes a com­plet­ed bicy­cling path and part of the trail is paved road that is planned to include high­way markers.

“We may or may not get fund­ing for that in the next cou­ple of weeks,” he said.

The cycling path is part of the Route 21 nation­al bik­ing route.

Fox said Boone Trace is some­times con­fused with the Wilderness Road, which was a wag­on road to Louisville, com­plet­ed in 1796, when Kentucky had become a state.

Boone Trace and the Wilderness Road sep­a­rat­ed in London.

Elizabeth Chalfant of Winchester, anoth­er plan­ner and coör­di­na­tor of the Boonesborough cel­e­bra­tion, said in a Facebook post that the arrival of the hik­ers high­light­ed the activ­i­ties on Saturday.

“History was made at Boonesborough in 1775 when Boone and his axe­men arrived and set­tle­ment began,” she said.

But there were so many activ­i­ties that were part of the two-day Fort Boonesborough celebration.

There were liv­ing his­to­ry re-enact­ments of the colony’s first leg­isla­tive ses­sion and first church ser­vice, both under the mas­sive Divine Elm (which is long van­ished), and re-enac­tors demon­strat­ed 18^th cen­tu­ry skills such as spin­ning and weav­ing, cook­ing over open fires, and use of black pow­der rifles.

Vendors sold books, T‑shirts and sou­venirs, and there were food trucks and children’s activities.

Archaeologist Nancy O’ Malley gave an overview of her mul­ti-year study of the remains of the fort, which was locat­ed where a Daughters of the American Revolution marks the site.

Randell Jones, an author and Boone schol­ar, talked about the fron­tier hero for whom Boonesborough is named.

The free event offered a shut­tle ser­vice to the repli­ca of Fort Boonesborough, which was con­struct­ed about the time of the 1975 bicen­ten­ni­al of the settlement.

“We were beyond pleased,” said Heasley, who not­ed that because the cel­e­bra­tion was a one-time event, the plan­ners weren’t sure what to expect. “We esti­mat­ed that we prob­a­bly had 2,500 to 3,000 for the week­end, if not more.”

The event was spon­sored by the Fort Boonesborough Foundation, the Society of Boonesborough and Fort Boonesborough State Park.