It is often easy to imagine the great adventures that the founders of our country were involved with. Unfortunately, it can be much more difficult to relate to the realities of their every day lives. Especially for the younger crowd, it’s often difficult to imagine life before portable Gameboys, laptops, and cable, much less life before television and radio, when even newspapers could be hard to come by in some locales.

Before the days of Superman and Batman, the legends and feats of great explorers and adventurers filled the imagination. Few, however, were as exciting as Daniel Boone.

He was a true pioneer. Not only was he one of the first European Americans to carve his way across the Appalachian Mountains at the spot now know as The Cumberland Gap, but his expedition was so successful that he almost single-handedly is responsible for the settlement of Kentucky. He ventured back across the Gap to the east, and volunteered to lead groups of other pioneers and settlers heading for newly acquired territories back and forth across the untamed wilderness.

Despite the fact that today you can drive back and forth across The Cumberland Gap (located between South Eastern Kentucky and South Western Virginia, with a park that stretches into Tennessee) all day long and only fear running out of gas, back then it was a much different story. The terrain through the mountains was very rough; it was difficult enough on horseback, but many made the journey on foot, or hauling carts and wagons. There weren’t restaurants to provide snacks. There weren’t any hotels or hot showers. This new land was wild! And, there was always the prospect of running into a surprise.

The Euro-Americans were generally unfamiliar with the ways of the Native Americans who had been living in communities across the area for hundreds of years. Most of the settlers only knew of the Indians through news stories or gossip; very few of which described the Indians as anything other than war-mongers or miscreants. Little was known of their daily lives, and the Euro-Americans were extremely wary of having a run in with the locals.

Then, there was nature. The travelers never knew when a hungry “Panther-Cat” or Bear would wander into camp, or when a sudden storm would whip up drenching the travelers, or bearing down on them with blinding snow.

Despite the hardships, Daniel Boone led his parties across the wilderness many times. He lived for many years in Kentucky and in West Virginia before moving his family to what was the next great wilderness of the time – Missouri.

It is in the small, out-of-the-way town of Defiance, approximately an hour west of Saint Louis, where The Daniel Boone Home still stands in memory of this great explorer. It was not actually his home, it belonged in fact to his son Nathan, but it was here that Daniel Boone spent his last days, and he and his wife, Rebecca, are buried near by.

The home was well-kept throughout the years, but in the hands of its most recent owner, Lindenwood University, it has become a thriving “Living History” community through the home, and the newly developed Boonesfield Village. The Boone Home offers exciting events throughout the year, but I highly recommend their Annual Candlelight Tour. Generally held at the beginning of December, the Boone Home stays open well into the night, and visitors are allowed a glimpse of country life before electric street lights, while learning about the crafts, foods, and traditions that made the winter feel warmer!