Controversy Surrounds Daniel Boone's Ky. Gravesite

By Shannon Davidson

(FRANKFORT, Ky., July 21st, 2003, 6 p.m.) -- Famous for the exploration and settlement of Kentucky, Daniel Boone is a name every Kentuckian knows. The accomplishments of his life are well noted, but it's the details surrounding his death -- or more accurately, his post-death -- that keep historians asking: where is Daniel Boone now? Shannon Davidson reports.

Overlooking the Kentucky River, on a rolling green hill in Frankfort, the man responsible for opening up the Kentucky frontier more than two centuries ago rests in peace.

Or does he?

According to Ron Bryant with the Kentucky Historical Society, by the 1840's, there was this movement to create these beautiful park-like cemeteries. Some very entrepreneurial people in Frankfort decided that's what we're going to do. But we need a celebrity to sell plots."

What better celebrity than Daniel Boone? He was originally buried in Warren County, Missouri on a family farm. In 1845, a Kentucky delegation convinced the Boone family to send Daniel's remains back to the Bluegrass, where his presence would made such a huge contribution.

Then it was just a matter of exhuming his body, along with his wife, Rebecca's. But therein lies the conflict.

Boone's relatives pointed out Daniel and Rebecca's graves, but admitted that, 25 years prior, when they began to bury Daniel next to his wife, they came upon another grave, so they had to bury Daniel at her feet.

Rebecca's remains were never in question but some say Daniel was not the other person exhumed with her.

Jim Holmberg with the Filson Historical Society says it's hard to keep a good conspiracy theory down. "You know, once you get that good conspiracy theory going, it keeps popping up. And still today, it's debated: did they get the right body?"

When Boone's remains were brought to Frankfort, a minister made a plaster cast of his skull. Years later, forensic scientists studied the cast to try and determine if this was, in fact, Daniel Boone. Their findings were inconclusive.

So, if it wasn't Daniel's remains that were exhumed and brought to Kentucky, then, who was it?

Holmberg says there are two popular theories. "There was really a conspiracy by Missourians to lead them astray from the get-go, and made sure they got the wrong people altogether. The Boone family strongly denied having sent the wrong body, which leaves the other theory.

According to Bryant, "the legend has it that the people who were digging up the grave played a trick. They knew that there was a slave buried close to these bodies, and they took up the slave instead."

Could the body buried in Kentucky really belong to a slave? The debate has continued for years.

As Holmberg says, ultimately, we may never really truly know."

For now, Kentuckians will just have to make up their own minds.

The only way to find out for certain whether Daniel Boone is buried in Frankfort is to compare the DNA of his remains with a living descendent. No future exhumation is scheduled, however, and even if it were, there might not be enough of his remains left to take an accurate sample.

Online Reporter: Shannon Davidson

Online Producer: Michael Dever