Fort Boonesborough State Park - KY

[DutchmenSport]

Wife and I have fallen in-love again with the old 1960's television show "Daniel Boone." We've been watching it on over-the-air television. OK, I'm showing my age here, we both watch this as kids, and surprisingly, still love the show.

On our way back from our Florida Christmas trip, I made the comment to the wife wondering where Boonesborough actually was. Well, one thing led to another and we found the closest is probably Fort Boonesboro State Park in Kentucky. So, we'd like to visit there.

From the web site, it looks like a pretty decent state park. So, just like so many do on these forums, it's my turn to ask the question: Anyone ever been there and what did you think of it? Anything we should know ahead of time that we should avoid? We've not made any reservations yet.

[DutchmenSport]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Talking with the wife, it sounds like the Horse Park wins for a place to put the camper. I got on Google Maps and the satellite view and looked at the Horse Park campground, it looks pretty nice (from the air). I think this will be a better choice to camp and will just visit the State Park. Thinking about the construction noise is what changed our mind. We stayed at the Elkhart Country Indiana Fairgrounds several times. There's railroad tracks adjoining the back end of the grounds and trains run every 5 minutes one way or the other all night long. Really don't want to drive 300 miles just to listen to a high pitched "beep, beep, beep" when earth moving equipment goes in reverse! Thanks again!

[ljpel]

We stay there every Labor Day for a family reunion. We have found our lots to be shady enough and level, we typically stay in the back of the RV section. Some of the lots are small, but not all of them. There are also primitive sites for tents that are not level. The bathrooms are clean but nothing fancy. We find it very convenient to Lexington, so there is actually quite a bit to do. The fort is worth a visit but won't take but an hour or two. We have also stayed at the Horse Park, and the Horse Park is definitely the nicer of the two parks.

[donut_dave]

we didn't care for it and won't be back
1. too much noise (dump trucks from the quarry one after another, etc)
2. no shade to speak (not like camping in the woods at all)
3. too many golf carts speeding around continually

[benbovac]

its an OK park, too many people driving golf carts around the cg all hours of the day and night. They do have some spots with FHU, most are water and electric. Be sure to get a level site also as many are unfit for anything but a tent. I agree a much better alternative is the Horse Park in Lexington, it would be a short drive to the fort to visit.

[rv2go]

A better alternative, and a real neat place to stay and visit would be the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. It would only be about 30 miles to Fort Boonesborough State Park.

[RGar974417]

We also stayed in Boonesboro Sp.Thought the campground was decent and it is neat to visit the Fort.Nothing much to do in the area other than that.There is another place to visit if you want to learn about Daniel Boone.It is Daniel Boone Homestead near Reading,Pa.Boone lived there untill he was 15 when his family moved to North Carolina.Nearby is French Creek State Park which has camping.Hopewell Village Historic Site is right next to French Creek.If you like history,there's alot to see there also.

http://www.danielboonehomestead.org/

[hawkhill]

We stayed there a couple of years ago. Very nice park although it is next to a working dirt pit so if you are hanging around during the day it can be a little noisy. Bring a couple of water hoses as some of the sites share a double headed spigot and the spigot may be away from your site. We had a pull thru on the back side (near the dirt pit) which was nice and roomy. The noise did not bother us as we were not there to sleep in or hang around the campground midday. The only thing that did bother us and would make us hesitate to go back is that we had absolutely no Verizon cell or AT & T mifi signal which is unusual for us seeing that we have an antenna for that and a signal booster installed. I did not like being out of contact as I had an elderly mother back at home. The park is located at the bottom of a hill next to the dirt pit and the river so you are down in a hollow.

There is a nice museum down by the river and you can also tour the fort. When we were there, they had a reenactment at the fort which was really interesting. There is a pool located over in the park area next to the campground. Also, the campground store was well stocked. Bathrooms were neat and clean. They had two dump stations if I recall correctly. One was kind of on the main drag through the park and the other off to the side in the back of the park. That is the one we used.

[6_7_tow_rig]

Its a decent park on the banks of the Kentucky River. Sites are pretty tight in some areas, and the one side of the campground backs up to a rock quarry that can be pretty annoying. Also the main road outside the campground is a long hill that the semis and dump trucks travel on using their jake brakes at all hours.

With all that being said, it is a clean place to stay if touring the area but I wouldn't call it a great place to stay to camp. The tours of the fort are nice, and its a very short drive, or a decent walk to get there. I don't recommend going there in the heat of the summer as there aren't many really shady sites, just enough trees to block the sun at certain times of the day

[RoyF]

I don't have the answer, but Fort Boonesboro SP is also on my list of places to visit. What I recommend before the visit is to read a biography of Daniel Boone. I did that several years ago. The real Boone was a very interesting character. Did he hope to get rich by leading settlers into Kentucky? What happened when he was captured by Miami indians and taken to Ohio? Did the U.S. want to recognize land claims of the Boone settlers when Kentucky came into the union? Why did Boone leave Kentucky and move to Missouri?

Check out the biography section of your public library.