The Daniel Boone Trail Marker in Hillsborough as shown in Commemorative Landscapes, which notes that the monument was built in the 1930s. There were originally 358 of these Boone Trail Highway tablets made and placed from Virginia Beach, VA to San Francisco, CA. They were done by a Mr. J. Hampton Rich of Mocksville, NC, whose Boone Memorial Association had as its objective the raising of the Boone reputation and its memory in the American consciousness.
From the May 7, 1914, issue of the Watauga Democrat, Boone
The April number of the “Home and Country” magazine, an
illustrated monthly magazine of the Daughters of the American Revolution of the
United States, contains a most pleasing account by Mrs. Lindsay Patterson of
Winston-Salem of the unveiling of the Boone marker at this place on the 23rd
day of last October.
There are excellent pictures of Mrs. Lindsay Patterson,
chairman, and of Mrs. William N. Reynolds, State Regent, and of one of the
markers. The following excerpt are copied:
“Twelve boulders have been placed along the Trail marked by
tablets. His cabin near the Yadkin was on a beautiful bluff, wild and isolated
now as when the hardy pioneer made it his home.
There the first tablet was placed on the arrow-shaped stone
that marks the spot. The next marker is at historic Shallowford, where
Cornwallis crossed on his way to fight Greene—and still later, made more famous
by Winston Churchill in his book “The Crossing.”
The tireless State Regent and Chairman went in their cars,
and with invited guests followed the Trail, attending and participating in all
the exercises, and afterwards serving picnic lunches. From all sections of the
country people gathered to take part; schools attended in a body; the children
singing patriotic songs, unveiling the tablets, and having a good time generally.
One of the most enthusiastic unveilings was held in the town
of Boone, Watauga county, where the boulder was placed in the Court House
Square and about 600 people were present. Boone lived there several years, and
many traditions of him still linger in that most beautiful mountain country. A
list of places marked will enable the reader to follow the trail across the
State: Home near Yadkin River; Shallowford; Huntsville; Yadkinville; Wilkesboro; Holman’s ford; Elkville; Three Forks Church; Boone; Hodges Gap; Graveyard Gap; Zionville.
“Locating the Trail through North Carolina was the real
labor of the undertaking, as the chairman found, to her speechless amazement,
that no history or map had any record of it. Then began a long and weary hunt
through old letters and ancient manuscripts, and still no results. Then the
chairman wished she had died when a baby, so she wouldn’t have to explain to
the Daughters that she had asked them to mark a trail that could not be found.
But the old adage about its being darkest just before the dawn held good, and
all at once light came.
Dr. Archibald Henderson of Chapel Hill, a descendant of
Judge Henderson, sent extracts from family papers. Mr. W.L. Bryan of Boone,
related to the Boones, and an encyclopedia of interesting information
concerning him, gave valuable suggestion, while Mr. John P. Arthur of Asheville
went over the entire trail, interviewing all the old inhabitants concerning it
and writing down all that they told him. Mr. P.M. Wilson of Washington sent government
map, while the State Regent and Daughters were tireless in their efforts.”
Thus does our town of Boone get its proper “Place in the
picture, near the flashing of the guns,” as this magazine circulates throughout
the United States.
The Last Boone Marker
At the request of Mrs. Lindsay Patterson, chairman of the
Boone Trail Committee of the D.A.R., Mr. W.L. Bryan sent Mrs. W.A. Miller to
Cook’s Gap Saturday for the purpose of placing the last marker on the trail of
Daniel Boone in this State.
He was assisted by the following public spirited citizens of
that locality: Thomas L. Critcher, R.A. Green, Richard Green, C.L. Cook, and a
worthy colored man named Jack Grimes. These would accept nothing for their
labor in helping to place the heavy boulder in position. In addition, Mr.
Critcher furnished inner to the visitors from Boone, and provided all the tools
which were required to complete the job. If there is not a large and
flourishing town in the vicinity of Cook’s Gap within a few years it will be
because the land owners ask too much for their lands; for every natural
advantage required for a town is there, including water from springs a hundred
feet higher than the general level, which is exactly that of the town of Boone,
3,332 feet.
For more information on the Daniel Boone Trail, see http://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/287/ and https://web.archive.org/web/20070819015545/http://home.triad.rr.com/boonetrail/
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