Boone Trail MarkersBoone Trail Markers
Between 1913 and 1938, J. (Joseph) Hampton Rich, a resident of Mocksville,
North Carolina, took it upon himself to keep the memory of Daniel Boone and his travels
alive. He did this by placing 358 metal tablets between Virginia Beach, VA and San
Francisco, CA. Although many of the tablets are associated with locations visited by
Boone, many were simply placed wherever Mr. Rich could collect the necessary
donations from schools, communities, etc. to erect a monument. He established the
Boone Trail Highway Association to further his project. From the mid-1920s to the
mid-1930s, the Association published a newsletter which detailed the efforts to install
new monuments.
The force behind the Boone Trail Markers was Joseph Hampton Rich
(1874-1949), a graduate of Wake Forest in the class of 1898. This was the same year
that the Battleship Maine was sunk in Havana Harbor, Cuba, and the Spanish-American
War began, a pivotal time for Mr. Rich. He had several careers: teaching in public
school; representing the Institute of Heraldry of Washington, DC; preaching in churches
(he attended seminary in Kentucky) and operating the Piedmont Print Company in
Winston-Salem. He ended his career as Clerk Librarian of the North Carolina State
Senate. He chose to celebrate Daniel Boone's trail because of its contribution to the
settlement of mid-America by way of the Boone Trail and because he was captivated by
"the pioneer spirit" of that era.
Everett G. Marshall researched this subject for six years and wrote a book entitled,
Rich Man: Daniel Boone. It describes in 13 chapters, and 323 pages, the biography of
Mr. Rich, his objectives for the Boone Trail Highway, its connection with the Battleship
Maine (each metal marker was made with salvage from the famous battleship), how the
Boy Scouts related, plus the documentation on the 135 known original sites, and photos
of the 46 surviving monuments, and a wealth of historic and related material. See
http://www.trading-ford.org/rich_man.html for ordering the book.
Over the years many of the markers have been lost to highway construction and
general urban sprawl. In the late-1990s, a group of descendants of Daniel Boone
established the Boone Trail Highway and Memorial Re-Association with the intent of
locating the markers which remained. Approximately 60 tablets have been located thus
far.
Davie County has two of these markers. One is at the corner near the Court
House in Mocksville, and the other one is at the southwest corner of the intersection of
highway 801 and Farmington Road.
Front and Side View of Daniel Boone Marker on the Square in Mocksville, NC
Words at left: This Memorial Erected to Daniel Boone, hunter, explorer,
backwoodsman, soldir (sic), surveyor, roadbuilder, legislator, magistrate. He lived and
learned woodcraft in Davie County 1750-85.Squire and Sarah Boone, parents of Daniel
Boone, pioneers of the Yadkin whose remains are interred one mile N.W. in Joppa
Graveyard; coming from PA 1749. Erected by the Boone Trail Highway Association
Words at right: Top: Boone Trail Highway; Lower Edge: Metal from Battleship
Maine in Tablet. Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone Marker in Farmington, N.C.;
intersection of Highway 801 and Farmington Road
Center Photo Words: Boone Trail Highway. Metal from Battleship Maine in
Tablet. Daniel Boone
Right Photo Words: Daniel Boone lived 2 miles S.E. His parents are buried 8
miles S. Here passed the armies of Greene and Cornwallis to Guilford C.H.
This memorial erected by the Village Improvement Society.