Field Trip to Squire Boone Caverns

Guided by Carol Russ, who throughout her teaching career brought her class here many times, we visited this pioneer village made famous by Squire Boone. We were accompanied by another homeschooling family from the seminary, the Smiths. Squire was Daniel Boone's younger brother. Daniel Boone is very famous in Kentucky as he was one of the first white men to settle in the state and him and Squire built Boonesborough, the first village in Kentucky. They discovered these caves on one of their many adventures and Squire later used it to escape from the Indians. He eventually settled here next to the cave as he always had an affection for it as it had saved his life. We are enjoying learning about their adventures and appreciate how well Americans have preserved their history.

The cave is a wet cave and has a stream running through it. It is a maze of tunnels and waterfalls and spectacular scenery with the ceiling at times seeming about three stories high. At times we were walking on walkways over waterfalls dropping far below us. We all enjoyed exploring another aspect of God's creation that we have not explored before. The Kentucky area is a maze of underground cave systems. We hope to visit the largest, Mammoths Caves, in Southern Kentucky soon.

Squire Boone asked to be buried in the cave that he considered to have saved his life. Carol helping Matthew mine for gems in the sluice which they were then able to take home. We watched some ladies make candles and then the children had a go at making their own. We visited a gristmill, which is a mill powered by a water wheel which grinds grain. The water wheel is powered by the stream coming from the cave. It has burnt down twice over the years by the grinding stones catching fire.