Help save Daniel Boones last Kentucky Home

Located in rural Nicholas County, Daniel Boone’s log home is his only cabin that is still standing in Kentucky. Photo taken in 2008 by Kevin Scalf.

“Traces of the past are very much alive in the present,” John Faragher.

The last Kentucky home of Daniel Boone sits on land he owned on Brushy Fork in Nicholas County and is one of the communities most cherished landmarks.

Recently the historic property has come up for sale and members of the tourism committee have placed a bid in hopes they can keep Boones log cabin in their

hometown.

“A committee was formed to save something dear to Nicolas County,” Gladys Shrout said. “The Daniel Boone Cabin is up for sale and we want to keep the cabin here, it’ our number one tourism attraction. I get calls all the time from people wanting to know where Boone’s cabin is located, so naturally we would like to keep it here in the county. Daniel Boones life here in Nicholas County is a big part of our history, and we don’t want to let go of that,” she added.

Shrout said the committee is accepting pledges for funds to purchase the cabin as well as maintain the property.

“We would need to put a new roof on the cabin and the fence around it needs repaired. We really need to get the cabin inside some type of pavilion to protect it from the elements. If we can purchase the cabin we would have to maintain the right of way and parking area,” she added.

The one-room cabin is believed to have been built around 1795 and is where Daniel and his wife Rebecca came to live after Boone lost thousands of acres he owned in Kentucky to poor record keeping and conflicting land claims.

In a documentary titled “A Walk with Boone,” historians Dr. Thomas Clark and John Faragher visited Boones last Kentucky home on Brushy Creek.

Clark said the score marks of the hand-hewn logs are original to the time Boone was in Kentucky and based on what he called “semi-saddle notches” is a sign the cabin was built under the stress of time.

According to Clark, the cabin was discovered in the late 1930s and was covered with clapboards and C. Frank Dunn sited the property as that of Boones in his Land Deeds and Locations research.

Daniel Boone is one of the most widely known American frontiersmen. His fame stems from his exploits during the exploration and settlement of Kentucky. He first arrived in the future state in 1767 and spent the better part of the next 30 years exploring and settling the lands of Kentucky, including carving out the Wilderness Road and building the settlement station of Boonesboro.

Without Boone the history of Kentucky would have been much different.

The opportunity to save the Daniel Boone cabin is not only important to the citizens of Nicholas County, but to all Kentuckians who want to preserve and keep the traces of our past, alive in the present.

For more information you can contact Gladys Shrout at 859-749-7986.