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August 20, 2012

Marking the sites of Boone’s Trace

Project to show how pioneer made his way to central Ky.

The Times-Tribune

CORBIN — By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer

At a luncheon for Cumberland Valley Area Development District Wednesday, President of The Boone Society Sam Compton spoke and explained how he hopes to mark the sites well at which Daniel Boone made his way to central Kentucky.

Boone’s Trace is a national treasure, he said.

The Boone Trace Project will mark that Boone, a party of 30 axmen, and two women along as camp keepers were there to make a trail that would be for other settlers coming into Kentucky.

“Kentucky is sitting on a gold mine of opportunity to build economical resources for this region and section right here,” said Compton.

“Most people connect Daniel Boone with Kentucky, not Pennsylvania, where he was born or from North Carolina where he lived, nor Missouri where he died, but Kentucky.”

He added, “I think we have enough laundromats named Daniel Boone. We really need to elevate Daniel Boone to the notoriety that he deserves.”

 “It’s Kentucky’s time and opportunity to pull all these resources together and have a perfect storm for this opportunity. The Boone Trace is a pet project of mine,” he said.

The project was put together in a year and a half and now it is ready to go.

The focal point is the Cumberland Gap. The Boone Trace is a corridor from the Gap through Bell, Knox, Laurel, Rockcastle, Madison and Clark counties to Fort Boonesborough alongside what became the Kentucky River.

Traces can still be seen in places there where Boone and his group cut the trees and made it possible for people from the eastern shore of America to make it to the west because of the steep Appalachian mountains.

It was the Cumberland Gap that brought the travelers finally to the land of Kentucky. They crossed the Cumberland River at Pineville and went past London to the northeast and the ford at Boonesborourgh.

It was the pursuit for new lands.

Within the Boone Trace corridor now are highways, and much of the corridor has been cleared or built upon. But, he said there are still spots where the corridor is visible. In Rockcastle County, the corridors in places are still visible, Compton said.

“Areas where the original paths have been walked upon will be historical sites along this path, memorial markers on the path, recreational activities near the pathway,” Compton said.

“Our mission is to give Daniel Boone credit for his role in the westward expansion of this great nation,” he added.

Signs will be added through the trace indicating where and how to find the paths that are still available to see.

The Boone Society has put together a coalition of interested parties and agencies to help tell the story and an appreciation of America’s pioneer hero, Daniel Boone.

Those involved are: Kentucky State Parks, Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky Department of Travel and Tourism, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, artist David Wright, Scott New (as Daniel Boone), a first-person historic interpreter, authors Neil Hammon and Randell Jones, Native Sun Productions and chambers of commerce in Bell, Knox, Laurel, Rockcastle, Clark and Madison counties.

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