Boonesborough, Kentucky
{{Short description|Historic site in Kentucky}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
Boonesborough or Boonesboro is an unincorporated community in Madison County, Kentucky, United States. Founded by famed frontiersman Daniel Boone in 1775 as one of the first English-speaking settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains, Boonesborough lies in the central part of the state along the Kentucky River and is the site of Fort Boonesborough State Park, which includes the Kentucky River Museum.{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Boonesborough |title=Boonesborough |access-date=16 February 2023 |encyclopedia=Britannica |publisher=}} The park site has been rebuilt to look like a working fort of the time that Boone resided there.
Boonesborough is part of the Richmond-Berea micropolitan area. It is located at the junction of Kentucky Route 388 and Kentucky Route 627.
History
Image:Wilderness road en.png at Sycamore Shoals in Elizabethton, Tennessee and the Wilderness Road into Kentucky.]]
Boonesborough was founded as Boone's Station by the frontiersman Daniel Boone while working for Richard Henderson and Nathanial Hart of the Transylvania Company.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nUN8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA123 |title=A history of the Daniel Boone National Forest, 1770-1970 |first=Robert F. |last=Collins |publisher=U.S.D.A. Forest Service |page=123 |year=1975 |editor-first=Betty B. |editor-last=Ellison}} Boone led a group of settlers (which included a number of African Americans{{Cite book |last=Lucas |first=Marion Brunson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84Qf2qKyZiEC|title=A History of Blacks in Kentucky: From Slavery to Segregation, 1760-1891|date=2003 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-916968-32-8|language=en |pages=xi-xxii |chapter=Prologue}}) through the mountains from Fort Watauga (present-day Elizabethton in Tennessee), carving the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap, and established Fort Boonesborough.{{cite web |url=https://parks.ky.gov/!userfiles/aParkBrochures/pocket-brochures/Ftboonepktbrohtext.pdf |title=Fort Boonesborough History |access-date=31 July 2019 |work=Kentucky State Parks |publisher=Kentucky Department of Travel}} Boone lived there from 1775 to 1779. The region was at that time part of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which officially chartered Boonesborough in October 1779.{{cite book| last1=Engle Jr.| first1=Fred A.| last2=Grise| first2=Robert N.| editor-last=Engle| editor-first=Kathryn| title=Madison's Heritage Rediscovered: Stories from a Historic Kentucky County| date=2012| publisher=The History Press| location=Charleston, South Carolina| isbn=978-1-60949-627-2}} It was one of the first English-speaking communities west of the Appalachian Mountains. Boone successfully led his fellow settlers during the Siege of Boonesborough in 1778. He then moved to his son Israel's settlement at Boone's New Station near present-day Athens, Kentucky.
Although the town served as a way-station for pioneers venturing further into Kentucky during the 1780s and 1790s, it never attracted a significant long-term population, and thus slowly declined. By 1877, Boonesborough had "almost disappeared as a village".{{cite book|last=Collins|first=Lewis|title=History of Kentucky|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F5FQAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA493|year=1877|page=493|publisher=Library Reprints, Incorporated |isbn=978-0-7222-4920-8 }}
Further reading
- Ranck, George W. Boonesborough: Its Founding, Pioneer Struggles, Indian Experiences, Transylvania Days, and Revolutionary Annals. 1901.
See also
- Boone's New Station, now Boone Station State Historic Site
- Booneville, originally known as Boone's Station
- Squire Boone's Station, established by Daniel's brother
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Boonesborough, Kentucky}}
- [http://parks.ky.gov/parks/recreationparks/fort-boonesborough/ Fort Boonesborough State Park] official web site.
- [http://www.fortboonesboroughfoundation.org Fort Boonesborough Foundation]
{{Madison County, Kentucky}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|37|54|30|N|84|16|19|W|type:city_region:US-KY|display=title}}
Category:Unincorporated communities in Madison County, Kentucky
Category:Unincorporated communities in Kentucky
Category:Richmond–Berea micropolitan area
Category:Colonial settlements in North America
{{MadisonCountyKY-geo-stub}}