Daniel Boone Homestead, Birdsboro, PA, January 2014

A quickly arranged meeting with my friend Mat led to a two mile hike at the Daniel Boone Homestead, located outside of Birdsboro, PA. The snow earlier in the week was still sitting on the trails, but much of our walk used the roads through the site, and aside from a jogger and some kids sledding we had the place to ourselves. Mat got to greet some of the local residents.......

Daniel Boone is often mixed up with Davy Crockett, and his accomplishments have been inflated and modified over the centuries through talemaking in books, magazines, radio, and television, but he was a real frontiersman, and he was born at the farm site in 1734. The land was sold several times after the Boones left the area, and his original cabin underwent extensive remodeling and enlargement. Most of the buildings at the Boone Homestead, such as the sawmill and smokehouse, are period, but not original. Despite the authenticity, or lack of, the Boone Homestead, it remains a great place to walk or hike, with nearly 600 acres of land just a mile or so from US Route 422. And as the photo of Mat with the sheep implies, its a great place to bring kids.

For more information on the Daniel Boone Homestead, including a list of activities, go to http://www.danielboonehomestead.org/