A trip to the Beautiful Daniel Boone Home & Heritage Center

Everyone has heard of Daniel Boone and while I knew he was a frontiersman, before my trip to the Daniel Boone Home & Heritage Center I didn’t have a clue of all the places he had been and all the things he has done.  I started writing about the site for my column in Farm World and there was so much to tell it ended up being a three-part series.

What do you say about a man born in Pennsylvania that learned to farm and hunt at an early age, lived in North Carolina forged a trail through the Cumberland Gap, fought the last battle of the Revolutionary War, and had a love hate relationship with the Indians.

He lost his son to the Indians on one of his first trips into Kentucky, one daughter was kidnapped then rescued and Boone himself was a prisoner of the Shawnee two years after his daughters rescue.  After feeling hemmed in as Kentucky became more populated, Boone with some of his ten children moved to what was then known as Upper Louisiana and is today Defiance, Missouri.

When Boone moved to Missouri he was 65 years old.  He lived in Missouri on land offered to him by the Spanish Government who hoped Boone would bring settlers to the area.  The four story house built by Boone’s youngest son Nathan Boone is where he spent the last 20 years of his life. The limestone home is beautiful.  Janna Seiz and I toured it and walked the village comprised of a dozen buildings from within a fifty mile radius.  My favorites were the lovely Grist Mill and the amazing Sappington Dressel House.

The story of Daniel Boone and all he did during his lifetime and the fact that several of the buildings have tie ins to his life make this a historic and wonderful stop.  It is a great place to stretch the legs and learn.  The Boone story continues today because David and Rebecca Boone had ten children, 70 grandchildren and 250 great-great grandchildren Peter Bringe our guide said.  So besides his impact on history, Daniels Boone also left a personal legacy that lives on as well.  Janna even knew someone related to one of Daniel Boone’s brothers.  He himself was the sixth of eleven children.

Now that I have been to this site, my next step is to visit the others, the cabin and forest in Kentucky and more!  Keep your eyes peeled for my upcoming three-part series in Farm World!