Day 3:   Transylvania ?!

Main Page > 2008 Boones Farm Monkey Shine

Mike and Bone rose early with a bit of time pressure on them, they planned on checking out Boonesborough and needed to get back to Charlotte by 6:00 so Mike could catch his flight home.

It is hard not have a tour of Daniel Boone without visiting Boonesborough. People tend to think he founded it, settled in it, and died there. His time at Boonesborough was actually relatively brief but very eventful. So around 9:00 in the Morning the Boys made it to the archeological site of the Fort. 

Barging into Boonesborough

Fort Boonesborough is associated with some of Kentucky's most famous pioneers - Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, Richard Callaway, Nathaniel Hart and Richard Henderson. The legendary fort was the guardian of hundreds of settlers who ventured to the Western frontier through the Cumberland Gap on the Wilderness Road. The key fortress withstood several major Indian sieges, was a bastion of civilization in an untamed wilderness, and a stronghold of the utmost importance to Kentucky history. Fort Boonesborough looms large in Kentucky history even though it was occupied for a period of less than 50 years"(Kentucky State Parks).

Transylvania, ain't that in Romania? While the American Revolution brewed in the East, the time was right for migration to the West. The Transylvania Company in was founded in 1775 was founded by Richard Henderson in the spirit of the old English Land grant companies such as Sir Walter Raleigh's, Jamestown's, and the Pilgrim's. The Company however was founded on very shaky legal grounds and soon purchased land from the Cherokees. "On March 19 Henderson and the chiefs set their signatures to the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals. By its terms the Indians, in return for trading goods valued at 10,000 pounds sterling, ceded to the Transylvania Company the territory between the Kentucky River and the highlands south of the Cumberland and a strip of land between the Holston River and the Cumberland Mountains". In addition to the shaky legal charter of the Transylvania Company the land purchase from the Cherokees was fraudulent, it wasn't Cherokee territory, it was Shawnee, which is one of the reasons the Shawnees became such sworn enemies of the American settlers.

This purchase extended from the Ohio-Kentucky on the north to the most southwesterly branch of the Cumberland River. The American Revolution upset plans for the Transylvania Company and the purchase was declared void when Virginia established Kentucky County. Richard Henderson, head of the Transylvania Company named Boonesborough in honor of the path-breaker, Daniel Boone. Henderson sent Boone and several axmen ahead to begin building the fort. Henderson, Hart and the rest of the party arrived about three weeks later, on April 20, 1775. That summer, the new fort consisted of 26, one-story log cabins and four blockhouses, arranged in a hollow square approximately 260' X 180'.

The back of the fort, comprised of the back row of cabins, ran parallel with the Kentucky River. The front faced the open space in the hollow below the fort where the lick and the two springs were located. There were two gates, one in the front and the other on the back wall facing the river.

The blockhouses, or corner cabins, had projecting second stories and formed the bastions of the fort. These blockhouses also served as cabins for Hart, Henderson, Luttrell and Williams. 

Boonesborough Settlers Monument

A plan of government by popular representation was formed and an election to form a House of Delegates for the Colony of Transylvania was held under the "Divine Elm Tree". This monument celebrates this meeting. This location is also where the first church service in Kentucky took place.

From the very beginning, Boonesborough was the primary target of Indian hostilities in Kentucky. The fort was attacked in December 1775, and in April and July 1777 by large war parties that were more successful than killing a few settlers. The Calloway girls and Boones' daughter were captured in July 1776. A party of men tracked down the Indians, surprised them at their campsite, and rescued the girls.

No attack on the fort, though, rivaled that of the "Great Siege of Boonesborough" in the fall of 1778.

Earlier, in January, 30 men from the fort were led by Daniel Boone to the Lower Blue Licks to gather salt. Here they were captured by Shawnees, taken to Chillicothe in Ohio and eventually to Detroit. Boone made himself such an amiable companion to Chief Blackfish that the Shawnee chief refused to accept the large British reward for him. He adopted Boone and named him "Sheltowee" or Big Turtle.

In June, Boone slipped away and made it back to Boonesborough. Here, he was met with much suspicion, especially since his hair had been plucked and he had adopted other Indian customs. The residents of Boonesborough thought he was the forerunner of a savage attack and felt he had befriended the Indians. Later Boone was tried for treason but was acquitted.

On September 7, 1778, 400 Indians and 12 French companions appeared at the fort. After a couple days of talk, the attack finally came, and it was furious. The French and Indians attempted to set fire to the fort by shooting fireballs onto the roofs of the cabins. The plan failed because the women and children of the fort easily put out the fires and were aided by heavy rainfall. Next the attackers tried to burrow under the foundation of the stockade. The pioneers thwarted this scheme and the French and Indians retreated after a 13 day siege. "..we had two men killed, and four wounded, besides a number of cattle. We killed of the enemy thirty-seven, and wounded a great number."

Shortly after all the excitement, Daniel and his Wife Rebecca, left the area.

Checkin' out Fort Boonesborough (Recreation)

After the Transylvania Colony ceased to exist, the pioneers restructured the settlement with the Virginia Legislature's approval of a town charter in 1779. But the settlement became one of the West's first ghost towns in the early 19th century. The 1810 Federal Census listed only eight households containing 68 people. The population continued to decline and by 1830 Boonesborough virtually ceased to exist. The fort's chimneys were reportedly dismantled by 1850 and the stones used to build a water gap. Several landowners gained private title to the land and used it for farming until the early 20th century.

How Dan'l saw it

In 1963, 57 acres were deeded to the Department of Parks expressly for the purchase of establishing Fort Boonesborough In 1987, an archaeological dig was begun to locate the physical remains of the fort and town. The projects goals were fulfilled when the most likely site of the fort was identified and at least 12 other documented sites associated with the fort and town were located. In 1996, the original site of Fort Boonesborough was designated a National Historic Landmark (Kentucky State Parks). This is where Mike and Bone wandered a good part of the Morning, checking out a short film on Boonesborough. It chatting with one of the Park's Historian's, because of the lack of credibility of the Transylvania Companies charter, all of Boone's land claims in Kentucky were null and void, in fact all his efforts ended up with two family members killed and him deeply in debt with no property. He moved for a time to Boone's Station, settled by his Sister's family. Apparently there is a running spring that people can still drink out of that the Boones used. So with one more stop, Mike and Bone hit the road.

Springing into Boone Station

Mike and Bone starting to feel the time pressures, fast-tracked up to Boones Station. They quickly found the Site and started walking around in the very muggy, hot warm morning, looking for the stupid spring, after a half an hour they had completely covered the entire property with nary a trace of the spring. Chagrined, they left when along the road........... 

I really ain't drink nothing out of this hole !!

There, right by the road in was the unmarked "spring" that looked as appetizing as a mud puddle. With it approaching noon, the Boys hightailed it to the Freeway to start back to Charlotte.

After the Transylvania Colony ceased to exist, the pioneers restructured the settlement with the Virginia Legislature's approval of a town charter in 1779. But the settlement became one of the West's first ghost towns in the early 19th century. The 1810 Federal Census listed only eight households containing 68 people. The population continued to decline and by 1830 Boonesborough virtually ceased to exist. The fort's chimneys were reportedly dismantled by 1850 and the stones used to build a water gap. Several landowners gained private title to the land and used it for farming until the early 20th century.

So what happened to Dan'l? After Boone's Station, Daniels life did not become any less complicated. In 1783 he relocates his Family to Limestone, on the Ohio River; takes up tavern keeping, surveying, and land speculating. In 1797 his Son, Daniel Morgan Boone hunts in Spanish Missouri and confers with Lt. Gov. don Zenon Trudeau, who invites the Boones to settle in Missouri.  In1798 Kentucky assembly names a county after Boone while at the same time, Mason County issues warrant for his arrest for debt. In 1799  Boone moves to the Femme Osage (now St. Charles County) district of Missouri with his family. He received a grant of 1,000-arpents (850 acres) Daniel and Rebecca build a cabin on land owned by son Daniel Morgan near the present-day town of Matson. Then the Spanish governor appointed Boone "syndic" (judge and jury) and commandant (military leader) of the Femme Osage region; he serves in both capacities until the American takeover in 1804 following the Louisiana Purchase. In 1800 Boone relocated with Rebecca to cabin on the farm of son Nathan in Missouri.

However even death did not end his story. In 1845 a delegation from Kentucky disinters the Boone graves and reburies remains in Frankfort, Kentucky,,,,,, or did they? There is a running controversy to this day as to whether the Boone family, who were allegedly angry with Kentucky over their treatment of Daniel in regards to his land claims actually gave Kentucky the right bodies for reburial and to this day, there are two site claiming his burial, one in Frankfort Kentucky, and one in Missouri outside St. Louis ! 

Trip Postscript, a Four State Skate

Which way back?  There were two ways back:

One was I-75 south to I-40 through Tennessee and South Carolina up I -85 to Charlotte, or I-64 through Kentucky into West Virginia, south on I-77, through Virginia, into North Carolina, straight to the Charlotte Airport. Choosing the later, the Boys high-tailed it east and south. I

t was a tense ride down throught the mountains of Virginia, averaging 80 miles an hour to ensure that Mike would make his flight.

The good news was that Mike made his flight with 5 minutes to spare (along with a un-anticipated side trip to the Charlotte Marriott to pick up a pair of Mikes shoes!), thereby making the trip every bit as eventful as Dan'l's life ! Which was obviously a Mike and Bone Trip!!!