Daniel Boone Playground

Boone Av bet. W Farms Rd and Freeman St

Bronx, 10459

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

American Frontiersman Daniel Boone (1734-1820) pioneered the exploration of and settlement in Kentucky in the 18th century. Boone was born in Pennsylvania, and later settled with his Quaker parents in North Carolina. Possessing a keen hunting ability, curiosity and an affinity for nature, he ventured to the Kentucky region, (discovered in 1673 by French missionary Jacques Marquette and Canadian explorer Louis Joliet) on two expeditions in 1767-68 and 1769-71. Boone founded the settlement of Boonesborough on the Kentucky River where he hunted and fought against the Native Americans who had inhabited the region for centuries. In 1778 he was captured by the Shawnees, but he escaped and later traveled to the East to bring in more settlers.