Daniel Boone Killed a Bear
D. Boon cillED A Bar on tree in the Year 1760
Artist: Bernie Andrews
Source: Alderman, Pat. The Overmountain Men. Johnson City: The Overmountain Press, 1986.
The legendary American frontiersman Daniel Boone had an interesting habit of marking a tree wherever he killed a bear. He would carve with a hunting knife his name and date in a nearby tree. They are called the “Boone Bear Trees.”
The last known Boone Bear Tree located along Carroll Creek near Jonesborough Tennessee fell during a storm in 1920. In 1924 the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a monument where the tree once stood now located on private property. Carved into the tree was the words: D. Boon cilled A Bar on Tree in the Year 1760.
Daniel Boone born in 1734 to Squire and Sarah Boone was the 6th out of 11 children. At the age of 12 years old he was given his first rifle. By 13 he was hunting and ranging away from home. At age 15, Boone moved with his family from western Virginia to Rowan County, North Carolina, on the Yadkin River, where he started his own hunting business. He became known far and wide for his skills as a hunter and a survivor.
Boone led a full life filled with adventures. He died of natural causes in Missouri at the age of 85 in 1920. Once Boone gave his recipe for a good life: "A good gun, a good horse and a good wife."
Thank you for reading.
Jenny R. Findsen
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