Daniel Boone’s Trail, Wilkesboro
The memorial consists of a rectangular cast iron plaque attached to a slightly larger stone slab
embedded in the ground.
Images:
Far-off view
DANIEL BOONE’S TRAIL / FROM / NORTH CAROLINA TO KENTUCKY / 1769 / MARKED BY THE N.C. DAUGHTERS OF THE / AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Wilkes Heritage Museum
May 23, 1914. Rededication: October 11, 2013
36.148590 , -81.151250
View in Geobrowse
Jones, Randell. Trailing Daniel Boone, Daughters of the American Revolution Marking Daniel Boone’s Trail, 1912-1915, (Winston-Salem, NC: Daniel Boone Footsteps, 2012)
“DAR Rededicates Daniel Boone Trail Marker,” Watauga Democrat, (Wilkesboro, NC), October 14, 2013, (accessed January 12, 2016) Link
“Daniel Boone Marker,” The Charlotte Observer, (Charlotte, NC), May 24, 1914, 13
“North Carolina Daniel Boone Heritage Trail,” North Carolina Daniel Boone Heritage Trail, Inc., (accessed January 11, 2016) Link
“North Carolina Joins In Boone Trail Movement,” Asheville-Gazette News, (Asheville, NC), November 10, 1914, 3
“The Trail Taken by Boone Through State Now Marked,” News and Observer, (Raleigh, NC), July 11, 1915, 17
“Wilkes County Courthouse, Wilkesboro, N. C,” in Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (PO77), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Link
Yes
Cast iron, stone
Elizabeth Maxwell Steele Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution
A dedication planned for December 2, 1913 was postponed. It was rescheduled to coincide with an annual Confederate memorial day celebration on May 23, 1914 that took up most of the morning. After lunch Mrs. W.H. Reynolds, D.A.R State Regent, delivered an address during which she noted “a great revival in the study of American history and North Carolina history…largely due to the D.A.R.” Mrs. Lindsay Patterson, chair of the Daniel Boone’s Trail committee followed with a “stirring” speech during which she praised the sons of Kings Mountain and the heroes of the Civil War and the legacy of Daniel Boone.
Daniel Boone’s marked trail begins at Boone Cave Park in Davidson County, NC, crosses the
Yadkin River at the Shallow Ford near Huntsville, and ends at Fort Boonesborough, Kentucky
where Boone served during the American Revolution. In 1913 Daughters of the American
Revolution (DAR) Chapters placed 13 markers along the North Carolina portion of the trail
which mostly follows Old US Highway 421. Mrs. Lindsay Patterson of Winston-Salem chaired
the project that eventually erected 45 tablets in North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and
Kentucky. At the Cumberland Gap (Tennessee) the four states combined to erect a single
commemorative monument.
Daniel Boone is famous for exploring the American frontier beyond the Appalachian Mountains.
He blazed one of the trails that opened up areas west of the Appalachian’s to increased
European settlement. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1734, lived in the Yadkin Valley, North
Carolina from 1752-1769, where he married Rebecca Bryan, raised a large family, and traded
animal furs. He died in Missouri in 1820 and is buried in Kentucky.
The marker is located at the Wilkes Heritage Museum, at the corner of E. Main and
Broad Street. The museum building was the former Wilkes County Courthouse.
Memorials on the museum grounds include Cannon Circle,
Veterans Memorial,
Time Capsule and
two Tory Oaks markers.
A Roads and Schools plaque is attached to the old courthouse wall near the entrance.
One block away is the Wilkes County Confederate Memorial.
Colonel Ben Cleveland Statue
is in close proximity on the 100 block of North Bridge Street.
The marker stands under a tree near the sidewalk, on the southeast lawn of the Museum.
Know anything else about this monument that isn't mentioned here? If you have additional information on
this or any other monument in our collection fill out the form at the Contact Us link in the footer. Thank you.
