WHAT // The Daniel Boone Home & Heritage Center
WHEN // Open daily, except on major holidays
WHERE // Defiance, Mo.
WHY // To see what life was like in the early 1800s and to learn about our state’s history
With their winding roads, bike trails, quaint bed and breakfasts, and award-winning wineries, Defiance and Augusta make perfect weekend getaways for city-weary St. Louisans. But it’s not all biking, wining and dining —more historical diversions can be found just a short jaunt off Highway 94.
Nestled among rolling hills, the Daniel Boone Home & Heritage Center, owned and operated by Lindenwood University, offers visitors a glimpse of what life was like for one of Missouri’s most famous residents and folk heroes. A $7 ticket gets you a professionally guided tour of the three-story Georgian-style home and includes fascinating stories about Boone and his time in the state.
The Boone family settled in Missouri in 1799. At the time, Daniel Boone was well-known throughout Europe and America as an explorer and frontiersman. To draw settlers to the area— then called Upper Louisiana—the Spanish invited him to move from Kentucky, offering him a position as judge and commandant of the Femme Osage District.
Technically owned by Boone’s son Nathan, the Defiance home is where Boone passed away in 1820. Impressive even by today’s standards, it would have been considered quite the estate at the time, built with Missouri’s abundant natural resources, including limestone and oak. Although self-guided tours also are available, the professional guides bring history to life, explaining details like holes in the exterior limestone walls, made so the Boones could defend themselves from local Osage Native Americans. And the guides are quick to point out that the kitchen, charming and light-filled today thanks to doors installed after Boone’s time, would have been an unpleasant place where the Boone women spent many hours preparing meals during the winter months.
The history alone is worth the trip, but the beauty of the surrounding property is another reason to visit. Situated atop a hill, the home’s porch overlooks the Femme Osage Valley, where large trees and on-site picnic tables offer a pleasant spot to sit and enjoy lunch. What remains of one of Boone’s ‘Judgment Trees,’ where Boone held court, also is on the property, and a memorial Judgment Tree, planted on the 200th anniversary of Boone’s arrival from Kentucky, can be viewed just off the Katy Trail at The Daniel Boone Original Judgment Tree Park in Matson, Mo.
Visitors who want to explore beyond the home can tour the surrounding historic village at an additional cost. The display of 19th-century buildings, all transported from within 50 miles of the property, includes a general store, schoolhouse, grist mill and the Old Peace Chapel.
The historic site hosts a variety of events throughout the year, including Pioneer Days Sept. 20 and 21, which offer plenty of family-oriented activities such as pioneer games and music. Halloween, Spirits from the Past is Oct. 18 and features a nighttime, lantern-lit tour of the village. In early December, visitors can take the Christmas Candelight Tour for a glimpse of how the holidays were celebrated in Boone’s time.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Boone Home & Heritage Center