Fort Boonesborough State Park is located southeast of Lexington, Kentucky, on the west bank of the Kentucky River in rural Madison County. has a recreation of Fort Boonesborough rebuilt as a working fort, containing cabins, bunkhouses and furnishings. The park offers history programs in conjunction with the Fort Boonesborough Foundation, and during the in-season, the fort houses resident artisans such as blacksmiths and potters who do open demonstrations to give visitors a taste of what pioneer life in Kentucky was like. The Kentucky River Museum is located in the park, at the former lock operator's home. The museum focuses on the impact of the river on area families and commerce and tells about the locks and dams in the 1900s.
History
The Fort Boonesborough area was occupied by Native Americans prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonial settlers, with a small village of Fort Ancient residents known to have lived there c. 1400 AD. The area that is now Kentucky had been scouted by Daniel Boone as early as 1769, and became the subject of an illegal colonial settlement attempt orchestrated by Richard Henderson and his Transylvania Company. Boone was hired by Henderson to cut a road into the territory, which he did, arriving with his expedition near this site at the beginning of April 1775. Henderson followed later in the month, and oversaw the establishment of Boonesborough and construction of its fortifications. The first form of representative government in Kentucky was held here in May 1775. By that summer, Boonesborough consisted of 26 one-story log cabins and four blockhouses. The fort was the scene of much action during the western theater of the AmericanRevolutionary War. In September 1778, the fort withstood an attack by American Indians in what would later be called "The Great Siege." After the war, the settlement became a travel stop for westward-bound settlers, and also became involved as a transit point for the flourishing tobacco trade. By 1820, it had ceased to be of significant importance, and it was eventually abandoned. The area did not undergo intensive archaeological investigation until the 1980s, when major elements of the site were identified, including Daniel Boone's initial station, the Fort Boonesborough fortification, several water springs, the foundational remains of tobacco warehouses, and the Fort Ancient village site. Most of the part was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district of archaeological importance in 1994, and the site of Fort Boonesborough was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996.
