Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail
Community partners add the voices of Cherokee tradition keepers and descendants of African slaves to an annual Appalachian pre-Revolutionary War historical reenactment and trade fair.
- Daniel
- Boone
- Trail
- Cherokee
- African
- Slaves
- Historical
- War
About: Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Project
In collaboration with the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association and Natural Tunnel State Park, a reenactment drama was created with Appalachian folk artists and local performers, and premiered at Natural Tunnel State Park in Duffield, Virginia. A group of Eastern Cherokee tradition-keepers are primary collaborators, and co-producers are the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association, a nonprofit volunteer organization in Tennessee and Virginia, and Natural Tunnel State Park of Duffield, Virginia.
The project builds on storytelling and music workshops conducted by Roadside Theater at the Tunnel Park, as well as an historical reenactment of a local pre-Revolutionary War kidnapping story previously performed annually by local residents at a reconstructed Block House (1700’s small house/fort) located in a wooded area of the Park.
The work is part of Roadside’s ongoing exploration of new forms of American theater that aim for the highest artistic quality, welcome an entire community, and help communities to develop their own futures. The drama was performed at Natural Tunnel Park, not on a stage, but outdoors in a setting that incorporates the landscape and re-created structures of the stories being told – for example, the settler’s village and a Cherokee settlement. The residency, the play, and other related culturally-based tourism activities are part of a regional community rebuilding strategy.
About: The Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association
To learn more about the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association, follow this link.
About: The Wilderness Trail
Long before the first white person came to the Holston, Watauga, Clinch, Powell and Cumberland Valleys a network of trails had been developed by the eastern Indians of the North American continent.
By following the buffalo, Indians had discovered three great gaps in the Appalachians and the trail that joined them. They called the trail system Athawominee. Two of the most important of the trails in the system were the Path from the upper Ohio Valley through Kentucky and the Cumberland Gap into Georgia and the Path from the Northeast Six Nation Confederacy through Virginia and the Holston Valley into Tennessee.
A young indentured servant, Gabriel Arthur, was the first white man of record to travel through Cumberland Gap, having been sent along the trail in 1674 by the Shawnee Indians to secure a trade agreement with settlers.
In the early 1750’s, Dr. Thomas Walker led a scouting expedition into the area and gave the gap the name Cumberland in honor of the Duke of Cumberland. In 1761, long hunter Elisha Wallen led a group of hunters into Southwest Virginia, and they roamed the area for 18 months, naming mountains and streams. News of the adventure spread and other wandering long hunters, including Daniel Boone, followed.
Commissioned by a land speculator, on March 10, 1775, Daniel Boone led a band of trailblazers from Long Island of the Holston through 200 miles of wilderness to the Cumberland Gap of Virginia. The trail he established was taken by an estimated 300,000 pioneers who settled on the American frontier.
Today the network of trails used by early eastern Indians is a major eastern transportation network. Interstate 81 follows the eastern leg of The Great Warrior’s Path. Interstate 75 and US 25E follow the western leg of The Great Warrior’s Path. US 58, laid down on top of the Wilderness Trail portion of The Great Warrior’s Path from Moccasin Gap across Powell Mountain near Kane Gap to Cumberland Gap, is a major thoroughfare between the I-81 corridor and the I-75 corridor.
Event: Cherokee Language & Dance Workshop
A Cherokee Language and Dance Workshop was conducted at Natural Tunnel State Park's Cove Ridge Center on February 23, 2013 by Micah Swimmer, Cherokee language instructor for the Cherokee Central Schools in Cherokee, North Carolina, where he also coaches football and basketball. The event was sponsored by the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association.
In 2008, Mr. Swimmer graduated with honors from the Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas with a BA in American Indian Studies and an Associate Degree in Physical Education. He is a member of the highly respected Warriors of Anikituwah, which consists of modern warriors appointed by the Tribal Council to travel and educate people about the Eastern Band of the Cherokee People, with the goal of preserving the traditional Cherokee language, songs, and dances.
Mr. Swimmer was accompanied at the workshop by his wife Carrah, daughter Tah-tah-yeh (six years old), and son Og-ga-na (five years old). In the morning Language Workshop, participants were instructed in the Cherokee language structure, and learned some words and sentences.
In the afternoon Dance Workshop, participants had a chance to use the language they learned as part of their dances. Mr. Swimmer not only taught the dances, but gave insight into the cultural traditions that gave rise to the dances and that are an integral part of the traditions of the Cherokee.
The morning workshop was attended by 61 people of all ages and the afternoon workshop by 69. Dances learned included the Bear Dance, the Horse Dance, the Buffalo Dance, the Corn Dance, the Ant Dance, and the Six Nations Dance or Friends Dance. And, as a special treat, the session ended with two Cherokee songs sung by Mr. Swimmer's children.
Newspaper Article: Cherokee Linguist, Dancer to Appear at Natural Tunnel
By Kingsport Times News, February 19, 2013
Micah Swimmer, Cherokee language instructor for the Cherokee Central Schools in Cherokee, N.C., will present workshops on Cherokee language and dance on Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Cove Ridge Center, Natural Tunnel State Park, in Duffield, Va. The Cherokee Language Workshop will begin at 10 a.m. and the Family Dance Workshop will begin at 1 p.m. A general admission fee of $5 covers attendance for one or both workshops...
Inside the Frontier Muster and Trade Fair in Duffield, VA
In this short radio documentary, Roadside's managing director Donna Porterfield interviews the people who make the Frontier Muster and Trade Fair in Duffield,VA possible. We learn why it's important for the Fair to portray the African American and Native American perspectives of life on the Frontier and hear from reennactors, educators, and staff at the Natural Tunnel State Park where the fair takes place each spring. This year's fair is on April 18 and 19 at the Wilderness Road Blockhouse at Natural Tunnel. For more information visit: http://danielboonetrail.com/
Photos: Cherokee Dance Workshop
Photos of the February 23rd, 2013 Cherokee Dance Workshop at Natural Tunnel State Park, sponsored by the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association
Video: Cultural Significance of the Frontier Muster and Trade Faire
Lynette Stuart and Joan Short talk about the cultural significance of the Frontier Muster and Trade Faire. Lynette is a reenactor at the Faire. Her presentation, "Slaves on the Frontier," portrays an African-American perspective of life during the Revolutionary Period. Joan is President of the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association and is also a reenactor at the Faire.
Video: Highlights from the 2014 Frontier Muster and Trade Faire
Highlights from 2014's Frontier Muster and Trade Faire which took place on April 26-27 at the Natural Tunnel State Park (Duffield, VA).
Inside The Frontier Muster and Trade Fair in Duffield, VA (audio only)
By Roadside Theater
In this short radio documentary, Roadside's managing director Donna Porterfield interviews the people who make the Frontier Muster and Trade Fair in Duffield,VA possible. We learn why it's important for the Fair to portray the African American and Native American perspectives of life on the Frontier and hear from reennactors, educators, and staff at the Natural Tunnel State Park where the fair takes place each spring. This year's fair is on April 18 and 19 at the Wilderness Road Blockhouse at Natural Tunnel. For more information visit: http://danielboonetrail.com/
Photos and Description: Frontier Muster and Trade Faire April 2013
On April 20 and 21, 2013 from 10:00 am until the dying of the embers of the nighttime campfires at the Blockhouse in the Natural Tunnel State Park, Duffield, Virginia, the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association, in collaboration with Roadside Theater, held the first ever "Frontier Muster and Trade Faire." The event, which was open to all two footed and four footed creatures, included workshops, demonstrations, and theatrical presentations. Here's a list.
- Cherokee language and dance workshops;
- Frontier craft demonstrations;
- Hide tanning;
- 18th century Cherokee cooking;
- 18th century campfire cooking;
- Blacksmithing;
- Horse racing;
- 18th century auction;
- Children's 18th Century games, both Cherokee and English;
- Militia demonstrations;
- Sunday church service;
- A performance that included 18th Century native and slave narratives;
- Dancing at the campfire Saturday evening
- And more!!!
Photos and Description: Fall Festival at the Blockhouse
On Saturday, October 27, 2012, a Fall Festival was held on the grounds of the blockhouse (a reproduction of a 1760's house/fort) at Natural Tunnel State Park, Duffield Virginia. The Festival featured the reenactment of a harvest celebration as part of life on the Appalachian Mountain frontier of 1775. There were demonstrations of cooking, baking, candle making, flax processing and spinning, yarn and cloth dying, blacksmithing, and flint knife and arrow making.
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