MOCKSVILLE - A local group wants to establish a driving trail to connect historical sites in several North Carolina counties that relate to folk hero Daniel Boone.
When finished, the trail would span Alexander, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Iredell, Rowan, Watauga, Wilkes and Yadkin counties. It would include Joppa Cemetery in Mocksville, where Boone's parents, Squire and Sarah Boone, are buried.
This spring, the group decided on a proposed path, and plans were announced for the first time at the Yadkin Valley History and Genealogy Fair and Conference in Mocksville yesterday. Organizers hope that the trail will spur tourism to the area.
"Daniel Boone has a high brand name. When you hear the name ‘Daniel Boone,' people feel good and they want to know more," said Andrew Mackie, a past president of the Yadkin Valley Historical Society who is active in planning the trail. "They'll Google it, and they'll find Yadkin Valley."
Boone is undoubtedly best known for exploring the Appalachians and Kentucky, but Mark Hager, a professor at Lenoir-Rhyne University, said that Boone's contributions to present-day Davie County were equally impressive. The county is home to many of his descendants.
"He was an average guy, but he had one heck of a family," Hager said.
In the spring of 1750, when Daniel Boone was a teenager, his parents sold their land in Pennsylvania and moved south to settle in the Yadkin Valley.
Daniel Boone later married Rebecca Bryan, who was descended from some of the earliest settlers of the Davie County area; at one point, the family owned more than 5,000 acres in the county.
Although the planned trail does not adhere exactly to where Boone is thought to have lived and traveled, it does include Boone's Cave Park in Davidson County. It is planned to connect to existing Boone heritage trails in neighboring states.
There's no estimated completion date for the trail; the organization plans to incorporate soon and apply for 501(c)3 nonprofit status, Mackie said. Local committees in each county will study the various points on the trail. The group plans to pay for the heritage trail with government tourism grants.
The group hopes to launch a website, place historical markers and eventually rebuild versions of some of the sites in Boone's life.
"If we keep building this thing, step by step, people are going to want to do more than look at a place on the ground and say, ‘That's where Daniel Boone's house was,'" Mackie said.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement