Some Interesting Things Along The Way

Lot's of very interesting carvings are found in some very unusual places. 

   I noted before one of the greatest pleasures of researching and writing about the John Swift legend was the opportunity and need to travel around the state to gather up information. I always keep my camera handy and usually snap a few shots to jog my memory later. Indeed some of the previous blog posts resulted in being in a place that seemed, at least to me, interesting at the time. We have such a beautiful and diverse state with equally beautiful and diverse people. So, if you are interested here are some more things I ran across that struck my fancy as I explored for the book Swift..
    Presently, believe it or not I have started on my second book. I can't tell you about it yet but just like the first it requires me visiting some pretty neat places and meeting some interesting folks to put the project together. Now I confess I never intended nor do I have the ability to be a great author. I wrote Swift, because, well, it needed to be written. The story needs to be told again and again. Just think, this legend is OLDER than our state. It has been passed along from one generation to the next. It is our turn to pass it along to the next and my aim was to do that with this novel. Now while my book is just a yarn the legend and some pretty important episodes in Kentucky's history are included. Anyway here are some  neat things around the state that caught my attention.

A picture is worth a thousand words, they say

On the seventh day of June, 1769  "I saw with pleasure the levels of Kentucke"- Daniel Boone
This photo from Pilot Knob provides the wonderful view of the Bluegrass Region

I like to eat and any restaurant named the Cornbread Cafe will get me every time! 

Worth the stop too!

Overlooking the city of Pineville, Ky is the magnificent Chained Rock overseeing the narrow passageway that the famous Wilderness Road negotiated the rugged mountain

The Cumberland Gap provided one of the few passageways for Boone and the rest of the pioneers to access the lands they called Kentuke

The old swimming hole on Indian creek in the middle of Swift country

The Salt Festival at Big Bone Lick State Park provides the opportunity to see many pioneer crafts and skills

They still boil the brine water at Big Bone Salt Festival producing salt in the same manner as pioneers  

At the Archaeology Weekend at Gladie in the Red River Gorge native American and pioneer skills are demonstrated ranging from pottery to cattail houses 

Cattail house

     If you arrived at this blog site looking for more information about the Swift legend and things associated with the famous lost mines, just check out the archive over in the right column. I have planned to introduce you to some real modern day Swift treasure hunters in future blogs including a guest blogger in the near future with some amazing stories. Also coming will be an excerpt entitled Louis tells a story from my book Swift .Be sure to sign up for a reminder so that you will not miss these exciting posts. Thanks for dropping buy. 


    Click here to return to web page.

Some Updates

    Hello everyone. Thank all of you that regularly follow my blog site. You that have been with me from the beginning are aware that my subject materials are mostly about the legend of John Swift's lost silver mines, my book and descriptions of the places that are the basis of the stories. From time to time an odd piece shows up simply because it is something I encountered and found interesting. In the past year I've usually posted something about every week. Now that my book is out and requires more promotion time I need to make a schedule change in my blog.

    Starting November 21st I will be posting every two weeks or twice a month.

    I will also begin to expand into other areas of interest, especially unique places and people. 

    The next post is scheduled for November 21st  and is entitled Some Interesting Things Along the Way.

     Please don't forget to join my blog so that your email will get a notification when the posts come out. It is easy to sign up on the "follow" link in the right column. And tell others about the site as well.

     Finally, if anyone has any ideas, suggestions for improvement or would like to post something on this blog, send it along and I will be glad to share it with everyone. I know everyone has places they just find special and would like to share with others. This is the place to get that message out. Of course, I don't mind selling a few books along the way if any new followers are interested. The book, both hard copy and eBook versions, can be purchased right through my own secure website: http://edhensonbooks.com/.

    Thanks everyone for following!

   

Indian Stairway Video

    I've already posted about the Indian Stairway but I thought you might enjoy this video (less than a minute) made this year on the stairway in case you missed it on a previous post.

 Indian Stairway

Daniel Boone Through Cumberland Gap

Cumberland Gap provided the easy route through the Cumberland Mountain

    One important element of the story "Swift" includes the history surrounding Daniel Boone's successful effort to reach the Kentakee land west of the rough Allegheny mountains. History records Boone made his first unsuccessful attempt to reach the wonderful and bountiful lands in 1767.  Captain John Swift claimed in his journal that he and a company of men mined ore and smelted silver in the same wilderness during the years of 1760 through 1769.

The "Narrows" through the Pine Mountain at Pineville, Ky. 

    Boone negotiated the passes of the Cumberland Gap, named for the mountain through which the eroded valley allowed a horse trail and the narrows of the Pine Mountain following the Cumberland River. He and his party became disoriented and failed in their first attempt. On his second attempt in 1769, with John Finley as his guide, Boone reached the great hunting land and beautiful level savannas that he had heard about and his old friend John Finley already knew about. On June 7, 1769 Boone climbed the mountain today known as Pilot Knob and viewed "with pleasure the beautiful levels of Kentakee."

Pilot Knob as seen from the Parkway crossing Eskippathikiki

 So as it turns out both characters supposedly were in the Kentucky during the same time yet neither mentions the other. Daniel Boone's exploits soon became famous and by the end of the decade he was about the business of bringing new families to settle the frontier.
    Swift, on the other hand, claims through his journal, to have ceased his mining and counterfeiting operations in 1769 and departed the wilderness. He did attempt to find the mines in later years but he was old and blind for his time in prison. Swift died it is believed in 1800.
    In my book Swift, Boone and Swift do encounter each other and the results are quite different than the historical records reveal.