Behind the Frontier Story
Historic Daniel Boone Home
St. Charles County, Missouri
Listen | Hidden in Plain Sight
Where in Missouri?
Margot and Heather visit the Historic Daniel Boone Home in the Femme Osage Valley where they learn that the frontier story is more complicated than legend suggests.
With guides Benjamin Gall, historian for the St. Charles County Parks Department, and Kami Ahrens, Director of Business Operations for the Boone Home, we learn about women like Olive Vanbibber Boone, who farmed and protected the property; about agricultural and production methods adapted from Native American knowledge; and about the enslaved men and women whose labor shaped the Boone Home, but whose names are often absent from the frontier narrative.
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Learn more about the Historic Daniel Boone Home in Defiance, Missouri at the St. Charles County Parks Website.
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Ahrens, Kami, Ed. 2023. The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women. University of North Carolina Press.
Brown, Meredith Mason. 2008. Frontiersman: Daniel Boone and the Making of America. LSU Press, 2008.
Christenson, Lawrence O. 1999. Dictionary of Missouri Biography. University of Missouri Press.
“Rebecca and Olive Boone.” Dains, Mary K. 1989. Show Me Missouri Women: Selected Biographies. Thomas Jefferson Press.
Faragher, John Mack. 1992. Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer Holt Paperbacks.
Flader, Susan, ed. 1992. Exploring Missouri’s Legacy: State Parks and Historic Sites. University of Missouri Press.
“Olive VanBibber Boone.” McMillen, Margot Ford and Heather Roberson. 2002. Called to Courage: Four Women in Missouri History. University of Missouri Press.
The “WPA slave narratives” mentioned in the episode, which wre collected from 1936-1939 by the Federal Writers Project, is accessible through the Library of Congress online.
Learn more about Missouri fiddling at the Missouri Traditional Fiddle and Dance Network.
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Do you know of a great Missouri story hidden in plain sight? We'd love to hear it! Please contact us.