Representatives from The Bluegrass Heritage Museum had a selection of books for sale - dealing with local history and many authored by local historian Harry Enoch pictured below.

At the Original Fort Site

Speaking to visitors gathered at the original Fort site Archaeologist Nancy O’Malley discussed her findings when doing work on the location. She did work both in the late ‘80s and again just a few years ago. She did not uncover the entire site, she told the crowd. There had been technical advances in her field between the two times she worked at the site and she wanted to preserve a part of the site for archaeologists who might come after her.

She talked of finding everything from a horse carcass buried inside the fort to fine china and egg shells. As in example of the progress in her field there is now technology that can determine differences in egg shells. This technology would show whether the settlers had domestic chicken eggs or had eggs from wild birds and ducks.

After speaking O’Malley took the visitors into the field to give them a feel for the size of the original fort. She positioned people as “corners , blockhouses and cabins” showing where the original fort would have gone beyond the present road and down toward the water.

Featured Speakers

Author and storyteller, Randell Jones captured audiences in the blockhouse. His first book was In the Footsteps of Daniel Boone which traces Boone’s travels through the frontier. It also gives him countless anecdotes from Boone’s life for his storytelling. In addition to his books on Boone, Jones has written on Davy Crockett and Isaac Shelby and the Battle of Kings Mointain.i

Visitors were greeted at the first table by members of The Fort Boonesborough Foundation and issued name tags that showed not only their name but the ancestor or family connection as well. The visitor log shows families from as far away as California, South Carolina. and New Hampshire. Michigan, Missouri, Iowa, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin and Washington were all represented. The majority of the visitors came from nearby in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia.

The children present were especially fascinated by his storytelling. Jones has an engaging style bringing his characters to life. During this session he was telling the story of Jemima Boone and the Calloway girls being captured by Indians.

The Proclamation Line of 1763 was issued by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War. It forbade all settlement past a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains.

But when land grants from war service became the norm after the French and Indian War and the Revolution, land grants in what is present day Kentucky were issued, fought over and the legal wrangling had begun.