Steps: 4,574,240
Miles: 1921.63
Last weekend, on Saturday, before attending a baseball game in Reading, PA, I went to the Daniel Boone Homestead to take a walk that was described in the "Squirrel Hike Book".
Daniel Boone, a name synonymous with the saga of the American frontier, was born on November 2, 1734. He was the son of Squire Boone, a Devonshire, English Quaker and his wife, Sarah Morgan Boone, a Welsh Quaker. They settled in the Oley Valley near Birdsboro, PA in 1730 after living in Gwynedd and Chalfont PA (both of these towns are near my office in Lansdale, PA). Squire Boone's father and brothers also re-settled in the Oley Valley.
Daniel was the sixth child of eleven and undoubtably helped his father as a farmer, weaver, and blacksmith.
In the 1750s the Boones moved to Yadkin Valley, North Carolina, which is about 45 miles west of Winston-Salem, to get away from the crowds and the Exeter Quaker Meeting elders with whom Squire Boone had had a falling out.
The walkway to the homestead -
Daniel Boone was born in a log cabin, whose foundations were found under the oldest part of the house, built by Squire Boone (the outline of which you can see on the left). As the family grew in size, the house grew with them.
In the nearby museum, a loom is displayed showing how rugs and carpets were wove back in the day. This loom is a couple hundred years old - and I photographed it smiling and thinking about Punkn and a comment she made about really old Amish looms not more that 2-3 days before I saw this one.
Blacksmith Building
It was a beautiful day - the temperature and humidity were just right - and a gentle breeze stirred the flowers and scented the air. Squire Boone was a blacksmith and this building was where he worked.
On occasion, reenactors demonstrate how nails and horseshoes and the like were wrought from the smoke and heat of the forge.
Squire Boone sold his 250 acre farm to his cousin, William Maugridge, who also was born in Devonshire, England. Maugridge worked as a shipwright in Philadelphia before moving to the Oley Valley. He wasn't a Quaker, however and was a leading Angelican in Berks County.
He served as a County Magistrate and sold the farm to John and Elizabeth DeTurk, Pennsylvanian Germans in 1770. John DeTurk served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War and prospered as a farmer afterwards. He died in 1808.
John DeTurk's grave in the family cemetery
Daniel Boone lived a very busy life and seems to have moved about every other week! I'm not going to do justice summarizing all the moves and Indian squabbles - but offer a few higlights:
Daniel Boone explored the Blue Ridge mountains, eventually trail-blazing the Wilderness Road, visited Florida just to see if he wanted to move there, and fought Cherokee and Shawnee Indians.
In 1755, he served in Braddock's army during their defeat near Pittsburgh in French and Indian War and most likely met the young George Washington during this campaign.
Daniel Boone, married to Rebbecca Bryan, moved to Kentucky in 1775 and raised ten of his own children while continuing to skirmish with the Native Americans and had no role in the Revolutionary War. By this time, however, his frontier skills had became legendary.
Daniel Boone, who knew Merriwether Lewis (of the Lewis and Clark expedition fame) personally, died near Saint Louis, Missouri on September 26, 1820 after exploring the upper Missouri River.
More details on Daniel Boone's very busy and full life
9 comments:
Great post. :)
I LOVE this post, I love social and family history, I LOVE looking at houses of days gone by... love to touch things that people once touched hundred or so years ago.... I think maybe its cos I dont really have that sense of family, and maybe its a craving to connect.... ok, stopping now lol
x
So much history and great pics. Sounds like you enjoyed your walk thru the area.
History! Great blog
I love things of old, too. I have often said I was born in the wrong century. No, wait, they didn't have computers in the 18th Century, did they.... Hmmmmm
I've learned so much just reading other's blogs. Who would've thought it. Glad to see you are getting use of that Squirrelly Guidebook, Iggy.
Hmmm thought I commented on this already. *shrugz*
That loom reminds me of 5 or 6th grade art class. One of my projects I wove a project on a loom similar to that. It was just portable enough to bring to and from to school (the art teacher loaned it to me) but cumbersome enough to be a pain in the butt having to transport it via bus.
Very cool! I remember learning very little about Daniel Boone in school, so it's fascinating to learn all the other stuff that wasn't important then.
Very interesting post! I love to visit such places. We are renovating an 1880 house...a LOT of hard work, but very rewarding.
I followed you here from your comment on Kaylee's blog. I knew from your comment there that I would like your site.
Thank you for sharing this. :)
-gypsy-heart
Thank you'all - and welcome Gypsy-Heart.
For those of you that are interested, Gypsy-Heart's blog with some very beautiful artwork Judging from the paintings, pictures, and what I've read, she lives on an island (in the saint john's river?) in Florida and is a Manatee fan like me.
Post a Comment