JEFFERSON CITY, MO, Aug. 21, 2018 – Boone’s Lick State Historic Site will hold its annual folk festival 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 3, at the Historic Site.
Sponsored by Missouri State Parks and the Boonslick Area Tourism Council, the festival will feature a variety of historic crafters giving demonstrations of 19th century crafts. There will also be musicians playing period music, as well as a variety of activities for children. Visitors can also tour the salt springs and learn the importance of salt mining in the early economy.
Boone’s Lick is located in the valley of Salt Creek in southwestern Howard County. It is the site of an early 19th century salt manufacturing industry, situated where several saline springs seep to the surface. Animals such as deer, elk and bison would gather at the springs and literally lick the ground to obtain the salt. In 1804, Lewis and Clark reported many salt springs in the area that now comprises Howard, Saline and Cooper counties. Nathan and Daniel Morgan Boone, sons of Daniel Boone, began manufacturing salt there in 1805.
In pioneer times, salt was indispensable for preserving meat and tanning animal hides. The countryside around this salt lick was ideal for settlement and, by 1810, it had acquired the name of Boone’s Lick Country. In addition to sources of much needed salt, there was an abundance of timber and wild game, as well as fertile river bottoms for farming and the Missouri River serving as a water highway for commerce. For many years, the "Boone’s Lick Country" was a primary destination of settlers moving west.
Boone’s Lick State Historic Site is located in southwest Howard County on Missouri Highway 187 near Boonsboro. For more information about the event, call the Arrow Rock State Historic Site at (660) 837-3330.
For more information on state parks and historic sites, visit https://mostateparks.com. Missouri State Parks is a division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.