Kinfolk

Serendipity… “The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident”. For instance, take what happened recently. We’re currently in southeastern Pennsylvania and Reading, Pennsylvania, the outlet mall capital of the western hemisphere is only about an hours drive away. So, Margaret announced a few days ago that because she was getting a little low on undies, we were going to take a trip to Reading to alleviate that shortage. Since I also was in need of a new pair of tennis shoes, I concurred that it was a good idea.

One thing that we’ve been doing while on this Odyssey is trying to stay off the big interstate highways as much as possible. Whenever we can, we take the little two lane back roads that go directly through the towns and villages at 35 miles an hour rather than whizzing by them on the interstates at 70….. ok, 80. This allows us to really get to see the countryside and unique things that make the various areas of the country different from other areas whereas on the 4 lane divided slabs of concrete, everything looks the same. Ok, so we’re bouncing down the road a few miles east of Reading when we go around a curve and see a small, almost unnoticeable sign with an arrow that indicates that the birthplace and boyhood home of Daniel Boone is just a hop, skip and a jump down an even smaller side road. Well, hello serendipity. Why? Because Margaret and her kin are descended from Daniel’s kid brother, Squire Boone, also born and raised there. Squire was 10 years younger than Daniel but was very close to his brother and accompanied him on many of the adventures that made him a household name.

As you can probably imagine, the old homestead is a little different from the one the Boone boys knew. The house that is there today is newer and bigger than the original but part of it is built on the original foundation of the boy’s birth house. The cellar however is the original one that they trod upon when fetchin’ stuff for their folks that was stored down there.

While in the visitors center, I mentioned to one of the guides that Margaret is a descendent of the Boone family and he said, “Yeah, we get about 5 or 6 people in here a day that say the same thing”. I didn’t think too much of the comment at first but later I got to thinking about it and realized that at 5 people a day times… let’s say 360 days a year ( I figure they close occasionally)… that adds up to around 1800 people a year that visit and claim to Boone kinfolk. And that’s just the people that visit the place. Imagine how many others there must be. So, if those numbers are anywhere close to being accurate, then apparently them Boone boys didn’t spend ALL of their time out in the woods chasing bears. Pictures in the gallery.