Boone Trace 250th celebration coming through Wilderness Road State Park
By Mike Steely
Senior Writer
steelym@knoxfocus.com
Something very special is happening the second weekend of May. On that weekend, the Boone Trace 250 Commemorative Relay Hike arrives at the reconstructed Martin’s Station in Wilderness Road State Park near Ewing, Virginia, on its way to Fort Boonesborough, Kentucky, from Kingsport, Tennessee. The 250-mile relay hike is part of the 250th celebration of Daniel Boone’s exploration of our region and of the road he blazed into Kentucky.
The Wilderness Road State Park is along Boone’s original route and just one of many stopping places for the runners and walkers who will set off Wednesday, April 23, from the Netherland Inn and Boat Yard in Kingsport. So far, 122 hikers have signed up to walk in the footprints of Daniel Boone and his axemen. The hikers will walk about ten miles each day.
From Kingsport, the hikers will follow Boone’s route to the Blockhouse at Natural Bridge, Virginia, and then to Wilderness Mountain State Park. The hikers then move into Kentucky through Cumberland Gap National Historical Park to Middlesboro and then Cumberland Ford. The event ends with a celebration of the settling of Kentucky at Fort Boonesboro State Park, June 7-8.
Each stop along the Boone Trace features special educational programs and living history demonstrations.
The three-day Wilderness Road State Park’s “Virginia: America’s First Frontier” celebration includes all types of wares from merchants and tradesmen, living history reenactment groups and several 18th-century history lectures.
Joseph Martin built Martin’s Station as a stockade fort, which included some crude cabins, and planted a corn crop. These efforts at settlement proved to be useless, as an Indian attack occurred in the fall of 1769 and the station was abandoned before the corn ripened. Joseph Martin and his men returned to their homes, but retained title to the western land. In January 1775, he returned to Powell’s Valley with a party of 16 or 18 men. They set about to build a more permanent station, which included four or five cabins for the men and a stockade, on the site of the old station.
While the Wilderness Road State Park has a reconstruction of that historic fort, the exact location was probably in Rose Hill, Virginia, on the north side of Martin’s Creek, where a historic marker now stands.
The easiest way to travel to the park is to take Maynardville Pike (Highway 61) north to Tazewell and take a left on Highway 25W to Cumberland Gap. Just before Cumberland Gap, take Highway 58 east until you reach the park. There’s camping at the nearby Wilderness Road Campground operated by the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park.
On your way to or from the park, you might also think of visiting the Lincoln Museum at LMU in Harrogate or taking the tunnel to the national park visitor center and the Pinnacle overlook. You may also think of returning to Knoxville at Harrogate by taking the Appalachian Highway (State Route 63) through Powell Valley to I-75 South through LaFollette and Jacksboro.
More information is available online at www.boonetrace250.com, or you may contact the Wilderness Road State Park by calling (276) 445-3065.
Martin’s Station at the Wilderness Road State Park, just east of Cumberland Ga,p will host a three-day event as part of the Boone’s Trace 250 Year celebration.
