Daniel Boone's ten years (or more) in the Kanawha Valley
Daniel Boone was an amazing man by anyone’s standards. He was a noted frontiersman and has certainly earned his spot in history books. Most books overlook the ten years he spent in the Kanawha Valley, though. I don’t know if that's because most historians and biographers of his just don’t think it was interesting enough to write about or if it just isn’t widely known, who knows?
In any event, he lived in a cabin not far from Fort Clendenin or Fort Lee as it was later renamed and would eventually become the City of Charleston. There's a park, on the opposite side of the river from where he lived, he lived on the south side of the river, which nowadays I guess you could say is the U.C. side or the Kanawha City side. Nothing is left of his cabin, but the park which was named in his honor does have the Ruffner cabin, which is said to be the oldest extant structure in the Kanawha Valley, it also has the Craic-Patton house. I don’t think anyone has any idea of what Daniel Boone’s cabin in the Kanawha Valley even looked like but there may be some depiction of it somewhere, there are sketches of Fort Lee and Fort Tackett (downriver).
Boone not only lived near what would become Charleston, but he also helped settle Charleston. Col. George Clendenin is normally who gets all the credit for settling Charleston and he did but he did so with the help of men like Lewis Tackett, John Young and Daniel Boone.
Boone was also one of the first to represent the newly formed Kanawha County in the Virginia general assembly (1791). Kanawha County got two representatives. This was his third time serving in the Virginia Assembly. It is said that Boone walked all the way to Richmond in October of 1791. He also served as LT. Col. In the local Virginia Military for Kanawha County. He was contacted to supply the Militia in the latter part of 1791.
I found something Dr. John P. Hale (1824-1902) wrote about Daniel Boone’s time in the Kanawha Valley in the WV State archives. It was interesting to read anything written by John P. Hale because I’ve read so much about him. He was a prominent Charlestonian who was influential in getting the Capitol moved back to Charleston from Wheeling. Dr. John P. Hale also funded the brick paving of Summer’s Street (the first brick paved street in the U.S.) He also owned all the steam ferries in Charleston, in the days when a ferry was the only way to cross the Kanawha. He also brought the first brick making machinery to the Kanawha Valley, as well as built Charleston's first luxury hotel- the Hale house. Hale Street is named for Dr. Hale. In his pamphlet which was published in 1883, he gives a lot of information on Daniel Boone and his whereabout in certain years, he also recalls meeting older people who remembered the Boone family. Very interesting read, ill link it here...
By the way, most sources that I have read said he didn't really wear a coonskin cap. Apparently, he thought that kind of thing wasn't fashionable. If anything, he would've worn a beaver skin hat. I have read several things about him being a beaver trapper. In John P. Hale's pamphlet, he talks about Boone's expeditions and one in particular I remember was a trip to the Gauley River, where he apparently did very good.
sources-
The Annals of Fort Lee, Roy Bird Cook, 1935, WV review press
Lewis Tackett-pioneer: Early Days in Virginia, Norval Jack Dudley, 2005, Author House
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