Boone Station



The Colonel and I were driving along the modern version of Boone's Trace as were made our way to our next stop, Boone Station State Historical Site.

A dark, wooden fence now encloses what was once the site of Boone Station.

Daniel Boone surveyed this site in 1774 for a 4,000-acre land grant to James Hickman. In December 1779, Boone and other families lived here in crude shelters. In 1780, they built cabins and a stockade in an area of about half an acre. There was a well inside Boone Station but water was also available from a spring located downhill from the station. By 1783, the station included about 15 to 20 families. Among these were Boone's brother Edward, son Israel and nephew Thomas who were killed in the final battle of the American Revolutionary War at Blue Licks.

Daniel Boone occupied the station until 1784 and his sister's family was there until 1814.

The spring used by those living at Boone Station

In 1795, Robert Frank bought the land and buildings of Boone Station and built his two-story stone mansion which lasted into the 1800s. In 1991, Robert C. Strader willed some 47 acres, including the site of the station to the state of Kentucky. Boone Station State Park opened in 1992.

Excavations by the University of Kentucky uncovered stone foundations of station cabins, and a short section of the stockade ditch built by the Boones. The 1780 station cabins varied in size. Each had a chimney and fireplace at one end. The large stone foundations of the 1795 Frank house were discovered also. The Frank house was built on the same alignment as the Boone cabins. The stockade was no longer needed and was torn down by Robert Frank but the station's cabins were useful to Frank's house slaves and other purposes. Frank's house had a chimney on each end as well as a deep cellar.

The Colonel and I saw no remnants of the former buildings of Boone Station or Robert Frank's house. There are only an interpretive board about the U of K excavation and a granite marker (see it in the distance) that stands where some of the Boones are buried.

We were not far from what would be the next stop on our "All Things Boone" trip back to Florida, Fort Boonesborough, but it was getting late and we needed to find a hotel for the night. We would "attack" the fort the next day.