Sunday, June 5, 2011

#154, 155, & 156 - Blue Licks Battlefield State Park

We decided to go camping this weekend! We went to Blue Licks Battlefield State Park. It is the location of one of the last battles of the Revolutionary War and also where Daniel Boone lost his son Israel Boone during the battle.
This post is going to explode with pictures, but it's all about keeping up with the memories!
The drive up to Paris, KY is such a beautiful one with stone fences and horse farms.



The little town of Millersburg is a neat little town.

There were yard sales everywhere because of a 400 mile sale on HWY 68.

The entrance to the state park.

We were loaded down!

The girls helped Daddy put the tent up. ;)

Family picture!

We played some ladder ball or Hillbilly Golf as we like to call it!



Sitting around the campfire before bed Friday night.

Brian got woken up at around 1:00 a.m. by the sounds of something moving around in our campsite. When he got the flashlight he saw two big fat racoons on top of the picnic table. He got up and burnt the small bag of garbage that we had and put a bag of charcoal on top of our cooler, just in case they came back! About 2 hours later I heard him get back up. They had come back and knocked off the bag of charcoal on top of the cooler and had stolen our hot dogs! Seriously!
Next up on Saturday morning we were able to tour the Pioneer Museum. If we got there by 10:00 a.m. we could get free admission! We made it!
Here are some pictures from the inside.

An original Noah Webster Blueback Speller!!! The date on the side said 1840.

A rope bed. That is where the saying, "Sleep tight don't let the bed bugs bite" came from!!

We just love this stuff!


At Blue Licks there used to be a natural springs and they sold oodles of water before they dried up.

Beeswax candle

Flint and steel striker

An outfit the militia men would have worn.

Uniforms that the Loyalist and Indians would have worn.

Love this quote! "When I visited Kentucky...I found it so far to exceed my expectations...I concluded it was a pity that the world had not adequate information of it." John Filson, 1784

The Buffalo Trace



For lunch Saturday we decided to travel to a small nearby town, Carlisle, to eat. Our two choices were a Subway at a gas station or this Dairy Cheer! We made the obvious choice.

Dairy Cheer!

It was pretty yummy!

We stopped by a small grocery store to pick up more hot dogs and this horse and buggy were parked outside! Love it!

Carlisle had some pretty amazing buildings! These were taken from my car window ;)





The drive there was just beautiful!

Jubilee and Liberty with their secret handshake :)

They were constructing a small fort very close to the battlefield. We didn't go here, but you could see it pretty good from the road.


After lunch and a quick break we headed back to the museum for a tour of the battlefield.

Loved this tree! And that chimney was actually built around the 1930's when picnic areas were built in the park.


Here is where the pioneer militiamen with some American soldiers fought a battle with Loyalists to the British army and Indians on August 19, 1782 after they had attacked some pioneers at Bryan Station. It was actually a year after the war was over, but news didn't spread very quickly in those days. This is where Daniel Boone lost his son, Israel, when they were fighting together. He had lost his oldest son, James, during a scuff in the Cumberland Gap area when he was preparing to bring his family into Kentucky.

They were unable to retrieve all of the bodies directly after the battle, so they went back 5 days later and buried the ones that they could no longer recognize. There were 33 men that were buried together.

In 1928 they built this monument for those that took part in the battle. It is known as the last battle of the American Revolutionary War. They lost the battle because of the number of Indians and British Loyalists that were fighting. Also, when the Indians were marching ahead they walked in one another's trails to throw the Patriots off as to how many there were.



"So valiantly did our small party fight that to the memory of those who unfortunately feel in the battle, enough of honour cannot be paid." Daniel Boone

The ranks of the men that fought.

"The men who fought the battle of Blue Licks were as well qualified from experience to face the Indians as any body of men that were ever collected." Robert Patterson.

If you'll notice Israel Boone's name on the list.

A small cottage on the park that I thought was adorable!

Outside the Pioneer Museum were these tomahawk chops.

After the tour we went back to rest some. It was around 90 degrees at this point! We stopped by a few stores on the way up there and one of our purchases was this little fan :) We were totally roughing it!!! Ha!

Scenes from inside the tent!



After cooling down and resting we decided to take part in some of the yard saling that was just down the road at the "concrete museum" as the girls called it. Ha!

Anna wanted me to buy this pig....hehe!

It was about 95 degrees at this point and we didn't last very long. So after a small purchase of an old carpet bag and a couple of shaved ices' we decided to take a drive to cool down.



I had to take a few pictures of the more funnier concrete statues. They had everything there!



A very old "negro" school house.

The girls back at the campsite playing battleship.

Here is the carpet bag that I bought at the yard sale for $1.00!

After it cooled down a little we decided to play a little putt putt golf. It wasn't in the best of shape, but we had fun!

Brian is always our scorekeeper. :)







Anna got a hole in 1!

So did I!

Our score card. :)

Back at the campsite we decided to try our hand at grillin' a few dogs.

Minus 1 :D

We got some average marshmallows and some GIANT ones! They were fun.



Fun times.



An average s'more.







A HUGE s'more!

After a few sparklers we decided to pack it up and head home for the night. We were ready for our bed and we didn't want to be there when the Saturday night crowd got a little rowdy.

But first we stopped by the Licking River to let the girls fish for a minute. And after that minute was up and they got bored of fishing in the dark we headed home!

We had a very blessed weekend together as a family and made some great memories.


Ephesians 3:20
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,"

4 comments:

Brooke O'Shea said...

Wow, it looks like y'all had a lot of fun! That looks like it was a lovely place. I enjoyed all the pictures and quotes. I definitely want to go visit it now.

Morgan Hagey said...

What a very cool place to visit! Kentucky is one state I haven't spent any real time in, other than driving through. It looks beautiful! Visiting from Blogher. :)

Jacquie Wallace said...

I loved this post! That stuff is right up my alley. Love the little cottage, the history, the family time. So much to enjoy in this post.

Teresa said...

Thank you for this post on the Blue Licks campground! My dd and I are planning an upcoming camping trip and this certainly helps as I decide where to choose. There is a zipline in nearby Maysville now so we are trying to find a campground near to it with the limited info that the internet can provide. Your photos and description really helped!
~ t.

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