Women on the Frontier 2022

Photos by Elizabeth Chalfant and Kathy Cummings

Women Re-enactors and visitors joined in to the events on May 23 & 24, 2022 examining the lives of the women that came to and lived at Fort Boonesborough.

Candle dipping (and all it’s preparations) were a big hit with visiting children and women re-enactors alike. All types of lighting were on display and discussed.

Birth

Another program examined birth in an 18th century setting. Women gathered around to support the mother who was inside the cabin. They prepared herbs, prepared garments for the baby and more.

Gunpowder making

Mary Patton was portrayed by Lisa Bennett of Tennessee. She gave visitors an explanation of how gunpowder was made on the frontier. It was a specific art that few people knew of and a valued skill on the frontier. Pioneer woman Mary Patton was unusual not only for knowing and understanding this skill but because she was a woman. Patton had learned the skill from her father and prepared powder for The Over Mountain men and helped change the course of history.  

Dolly’s Tears

A highlight of the weekend was a performance by Elizabeth Lawson portraying Dolly. Dolly was an enslaved women that came to Fort Boonesborough in 1775 with Daniel Boone and the axemaen. After Richard Henderson “traded for” Kentucky from the Cherokee Indians, Boone put together a party of men to blaze the trail into Kentucky. Among that party were 2 women, Susannah Boone Hays (Boones’ married daughter) and Dolly, a slave of Richard Callaway. They were charged with cooking and keeping camp along the trail. Dolly remained with the Calloway family even after the death of Richard Callaway in 1780. She became the property of his wife Elizabeth and later his daughter Keziah. Dolly helped raise the children (the Callaway’s had 13) and was still alive in 1840 when the original settlers of the fort gathered for a memorial celebration.

Dinner and discussions on clothing rounded out the weekend.

Thanks to all who joined in. The women that planned the event, the employees of the fort, and members of The Fort Boonesborough Foundation who support special programming at the fort.

Previous Years Photos from Women on the Frontier

The original Fort Boonesborough was built by Daniel Boone and his men in 1775

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