The Last Boone Bear Tree

Daniel Boone, a prolific American frontiersman, explorer, and folk hero, made sure he was remembered for one thing: killing bears. And he did so by carving into trees: “D. Boone cilled a bar”.

To record memories and exploits, pioneers sometimes carved messages into trees and rock walls. Boone’s initials have been found on many trees throughout Kentucky and Tennessee. And on at least three of those trees, Boone recorded that he had killed a bear on that spot, followed by the year.

Run-ins with bears were commonplace in the U.S. during the 18th century, and Daniel Boone is recorded to have killed a few in his lifetime. The trees he carved became some of America’s earliest tourist attractions as the country expanded West and Boone’s reputation as a pioneer grew.

In present Washington County, Tennessee is the site of the last “Boone Bear Tree”: a tree with the carved inscription, “D. Boone cilled a bar in year 1760”. The tree itself fell over in 1920, so the town erected a marker with the same inscription to make sure no one forgot Boone’s feats. The wood from the felled tree was made into gavels for the town’s courthouse. The site and marker of the last “Boone Bear Tree” can still be visited in the small town of Gray, Tennessee, outside of Johnson City. 

Another tree in Tennessee had a similar inscription with the year “1775”, and another in Kentucky with the year “1803”; both carvings were recorded in historical documents, but the trees themselves have had their authenticity challenged.