Boone Homestead

Bellefonte Bethlehem Boone Homestead Boyhood Home Brandywine Battlefield CCC CCC Elderhostel Christiana Covered Bridges Eagles Mere Ephrata Cloister Fallingwater Fort Necessity Gettysburg Harrisburg Hershey Hopewell Furnace Jim Thorpe Juniata College Kennett Square Kentuck Knob Lancaster Lititz Longwood Gardens Philadelphia Quaker Steak Reading Shoofly Pie Union Deposit Valley Forge

Daniel Boone Homestead

 



The Daniel Boone Homestead, located near Reading, Pennsylvania, is a state historic site which preserves a number of historic structures. The Homestead offers many historic programs and exhibits, preserves 579 acres of open space, and provides passive recreational areas.

 

the farm

Daniel Boone's parents first settled the site in 1730 and the region was populated by many diverse people-- English, Welsh, Scots-Irish, Germans, Swedes, Huguenots and Lenape Indians. Daniel was born here in 1734 and spent his first 16 years here before his family migrated to North Carolina.

 

Boone House


The Boone House began as a one-room, one-story log house built by Squire Boone in 1730, and included a cellar with a spring. Daniel was born in the log house in 1734.

 

 

Sometime around the middle of the century, the large, stone two-story section of the present house that is fronted by the porch was built and attached to the log house.

 

 

This larger section was constructed either by the Boones or by the second owner, William Maugridge. John DeTurk, a later owner, razed the log-house section in 1779 and replaced it with the two-story section of stone to the left of the porch (as you face the house). DeTurk retained the original log-house foundation and cellar.

 

built on the foundation of the log house

 

door to the spring house on the lower right

 

spring house
(food in crocks was kept cool by the spring water)

 

the spring house


The Interior

 

living area in the newer addition

 

kitchen

 

fireplace for cooking

 

 

deep window wells due to the thick stone walls

 

 

dining area

 

grandfather clock made in nearby Reading, Pennsylvania

 

bedroom

 

 

with a pullout trundle bed

 

 

 

 

 


 

 Homestead Barn

This Pennsylvania German bank barn is the type which the DeTurk family probably owned in the late eighteenth century. Portions of this barn are original; the lower level was a stable for animals, with the shed to the right as you enter used for wagon and implement storage.

 

 

geese coming to water

 

and drinking

 

 Blacksmith Shop

Squire Boone was a blacksmith by trade and would have had a building similar to this on his farm. This structure dates from 1769 and was moved to this site from nearby Amityville. Rural blacksmiths produced and repaired wrought-iron tools and hardware for farm and home, and they shod their horses and oxen.

 

interior of the blacksmith shop

 

lamb which recently lost its wool to the shearer

 

curious horse

 

 Smokehouse

This structure was probably built by the DeTurk family in the late eighteenth century. It was used to smoke pork and other meats as a means of preservation, with the meat hung from the joists above and the fire built directly on the dirt floor below. Apple and hickory were the woods preferred for the fire. Above the loft was a meat-storage area.

 

the farm scene


Bellefonte Bethlehem Boone Homestead Boyhood Home Brandywine Battlefield CCC CCC Elderhostel Christiana Covered Bridges Eagles Mere Ephrata Cloister Fallingwater Fort Necessity Gettysburg Harrisburg Hershey Hopewell Furnace Jim Thorpe Juniata College Kennett Square Kentuck Knob Lancaster Lititz Longwood Gardens Philadelphia Quaker Steak Reading Shoofly Pie Union Deposit Valley Forge

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Missouri Mississippi Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

World Heritage Mosaics Roman World Africa Antarctica Asia Atlantic Islands Australia Caribbean Central America Europe Indian Ocean Middle East North America Pacific Islands South America The Traveler Recent Adventures Adventure Travel

 

People and Places