A Legacy Preserved

A Legacy Preserved. . , The Fort Is Abandoned , Settlers built Fort Boonesborough as a refuge in time of trouble. When the threat of Indian attack declined, people abandoned the fort. Richard Henderson's dream of Boonesborough as his colony's capital died when the Virginia legislature declared the Transylvania purchase null and void. The state later granted a charter for the town but squabbles among the trustees thwarted development for years., From Frontier Town to Resort , Boonesborough received a boost in 1788, when the county court established a tobacco inspection station here. It suffered a blow four years later when the town lost its bid to become the state capital. The tobacco trade, ferry, and post office kept the town going but it never thrived. In 1825, the town lots were auctioned off., Boonesborough remained quiet until 1909, when Dr. David J. Williams built a resort here. For more than forty years holidaymakers came to lie on the sand beach and to drink water from the sulfur springs., Fort Boonesborough State Park , The Daughters of the American Revolution recognized the significance of the site of Fort Boonesborough when they erected the Pioneer Monument in 1907. In the 1930s, a federal movement began to recognize and preserve pioneer-era sites., The Commonwealth of Kentucky acquired the former resort property in 1963; two years later Fort Boonesborough State Park was dedicated. In 1974, a fort built for the education and enjoyment of visitors-a new Fort Boonesborough-rose on the heights above the site where Daniel Boone and other settlers had sought refuge.