Introduction
The Big Bone Lick Archaeological District was listed on the NRHP in 1971, with a large boundary expansion in 2000. For detailed information regarding the prehistory of the area, refer to these NRHP nomination forms. The period of focus for this historic context spans from the outset of Euroamerican exploration up until 1960 when the area became the Big Bone Lick State Historic Site.
Early History
Boone County is the northernmost county in Kentucky and borders both Indiana and Ohio along the Ohio River. The county lies approximately 25 miles southwest of Cincinnati. The county is approximately 242 square miles and bounded by the Ohio River on the north and west sides, Gallatin and Grant counties to the south and Kenton County to the east. The county is named after Colonel Daniel Boone, the famous frontiersman, and explorer of much of present-day Kentucky (Edwards 2018a).
Numerous Paleoindian and Native American groups inhabited the region due to the salt deposits that long attracted animals and game. Euroamerican discovery of the large bones at Big Bone Lick in the mid-eighteenth century sparked centuries of further exploration and settlement of Boone County.
Initially, France claimed the territory of the Ohio Valley until the conclusion of the French and Indian War, when the land was ceded to the British and it became part of Virginia. The area of present-day Boone County was then part of Woodford County, Virginia. Pioneers permanently settled in the county in the late eighteenth century, primarily along the Ohio River or other waterways. Captain Thomas Bullitt led surveyors to the territory in 1773, and Baptist preacher John Tanner established one of the first settlements in the region in 1789. Tanner’s Station was located along the Ohio River near present-day Petersburg (Boone County HPRB 2002:12; Edwards 2018b).
Following Kentucky’s statehood in 1792, the legislature created Boone County in 1798. It was formed from Campbell County (created in 1794) and boasted a population of 1,500 at its inception, with fewer than 200 land-holding men. The first county court was held at the home of William Cave in North Bend Bottoms but was quickly relocated to a site donated by Robert Johnson and John Hawkins Craig north of the central part of the county. Initially named Wilmington, a Post Office request in 1816 renamed the county seat to Burlington (Boone County HPRB 2002:12; Edwards 2018a).
Nineteenth Century
Boone County grew steadily throughout the nineteenth century. By 1810, the population more than doubled to over 3,600, and nearly doubled again by 1820 when residents numbered over 6,500. The major thoroughfare throughout the county at the time was the Covington and Lexington Roadway, a dirt road that featured taverns along the route for travelers. Road improvements began in the 1830s and the Lexington-Covington Turnpike was graded and covered with stone and gravel for increased and expedited travel. By 1835, ten miles between Covington and Florence were completed in addition to 15 miles north of Lexington (US Federal Census 1810-1820; Yealey 1960:9).
Figure 3-1. 1883 Atlas of Boone, Campbell, and Kenton counties. Boone County is near the top of the page.
In the early nineteenth century, immigrants to Boone County were mainly northern Germans who relocated from Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Immigrants from southwest Germany soon arrived settling in the northeastern part of the county. By mid-century, Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine sought better lifestyles in Boone County, settling primarily near Verona (Boone County HPRB:15–16).
Boone County in the nineteenth century was predominately agricultural in nature. Corn, wheat, and tobacco were its main cash crops. The county also possessed a large population of enslaved persons, numbering approximately one in four people in 1800 to one in five people by 1860. This reflects the overall state trend as Kentucky was ranked ninth in enslaved population, and third in slaveholder population. By 1840, the entire population of Boone County surpassed 10,000, reaching 11,196 in 1860 (KHC 1979:3–4; Caldwell 1957:2; US Federal Census 1840–1860).
Prior to the Civil War, slaveholders worried about escape attempts by enslaved people hoping to cross the Ohio River from the slave state of Kentucky to the free state of Ohio. Patrols organized by the county court searched for and captured freedom seekers for fees between $25-50 depending on their location of capture. Captured freedom seekers received lashings, were jailed, and sold back into slavery (KHC 1979:3-4).
The Kentucky legislature temporarily banned the import of enslaved persons into Kentucky in 1833. However, this law was repealed in 1848. The following year, a unanimous vote by the Kentucky House of Representatives declared that Kentucky was opposed to the emancipation of enslaved in any form. However, by 1855, slaveholding began to dwindle, with Boone County residents holding approximately 1,745 enslaved people out of the approximately 225,000 throughout the state. By the end of the Civil War in 1865, the number of enslaved diminished even though the act of slavery was not yet abolished (Caldwell 1957:2,9).
Boone County and General Morgan
During the Civil War, Boone County remained split as inhabitants supported both sides during the conflict, although no actions surpassed minor skirmishes within the county. Families, friends, and neighbors were often divided in Boone County due to its close proximity to the Union line in Ohio, and sympathy went both ways. Approximately 462 soldiers served in the Union army from Boone County at its outset until December 1864 (KHC 1979:3-4; Rouse 1996:63–64).
The most significant event within Boone County during the war occurred in 1863 when General John Hunt Morgan fled a Union prison and made his escape south. Between 1862 and 1863, General Morgan, with his band of soldiers, conducted raids in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Morgan’s Raid set to distract Union troops and divert its resources for Confederate advantage. He was eventually captured in July 1863 with Colonel Basil W. Duke and 68 officers at Salineville, in eastern Ohio. They were sent to the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus (BCPL 2016; Riddle 2018).
On November 27, General Morgan, along with six of his officers, escaped from imprisonment and fled south towards the Kentucky border. After splitting into smaller groups, General Morgan and Captain Thomas Hines took a train towards Cincinnati and crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky near Ludlow Ferry. From there, numerous Confederate-supporting families aided their escape (BCPL 2016; Rouse 1996:47–49; Riddle 2018).
The escapees first received help from Mrs. Ludlow on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, who offered them lodging and horses. They were guided through Florence to Union in central Boone County by Dr. John James Dulaney, where they dined with the Piatt family. Two of Piatt’s sons served under General Morgan’s command. Dulaney then led the officers to the home of Henry Corbin, who lived south of Union on the Burlington and Big Bone road. Upon their arrival, they dined and received visits from Confederate sympathizers.
On November 29, they were given money, food, new horses, and pistols. They traveled through the night past Big Bone. The party, with the help of W.P. (Perry) Corbin, Henry Corbin’s son, crossed Mud Lick Creek and later entered Gallatin County (Rouse 1996:49–51).
Boone County Post-Civil War into the Twentieth Century
Following the Civil War, and through the end of the nineteenth century, the population of the county grew slowly. River towns that once thrived due to the heavy traffic of boats along the Ohio River, faded as other transportation methods gained popularity. The completion of rail lines within Boone County occurred in the late 1860s, and railroad towns replaced river towns in both size and economic importance.
Walton quickly became Boone County’s largest city at the end of the nineteenth century, boasting a population of 538. Coupled with increased railroad technology, flooding and the installation of dams along major waterways also contributed to the demise of many river towns and original outposts (Boone County 2018; Warminski 1996:5).
By the turn of the twentieth century, another shift emerged, rural populations began o dwindle as nearby larger cities grew. The 1900 US Federal Census lists the population of Boone County at 11,170, a slight drop from its population ten years prior at 12,246. Many communities in the county including Beaverlick, Big Bone, and Bullittsville dwindled in size and importance. Many smaller roads and turnpikes were in poor condition resulting in little development in the rural areas of the county (US Federal Census 1890-1900; Warminsky 1996: 5–6).
After 1900 and before 1940, the population of Boone County dropped under 10,000. The eventual rise and increased popularity of the automobile by the 1920s facilitated the growth of suburbs outside of larger cities, including Cincinnati and Florence, leaving the smaller towns in the county, once popular as railroad destinations, to fade. An effort to improve roads during the 1930s and 1940s promoted this shift towards suburban life in contrast to rural communities (US Federal Census 1900-1940; Warminsky 1996:5–6).
Coupled with this shift of growth, what was once a county dominated by farms, soon transformed as a commercial player in the region. The Greater Cincinnati Airport (now Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport), opened in 1946, in northeastern Boone County. Additionally, the completion of I-75 as a major north-south corridor in the 1950s promoted faster and easier automobile travel through Kentucky. The development of I- 275, Florence Mall, and a large industrial park south of Florence created more jobs, fostering residential development in the suburbs closer to larger cities in the northern part of the county.
As the acceleration of suburban growth continued in the north, the western and southern areas of Boone County remained primarily rural and agricultural in nature based upon their relative isolation from these major thoroughfares and developing industry (KHC 1979:1; Warminsky 1996:6–7).
