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The gravesite of well-known frontiersman Daniel Boone overlooks the city of Frankfort from the Frankfort Cemetery. It is also the gravesite of Boone’s wife Rebecca Boone. Boone died in Missouri in 1820 and was originally buried there. The remains of Daniel and Rebecca were brought back to Kentucky in 1845.

Daniel Boone's gravesite located in the Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Daniel Boone's gravesite located in the Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky.

A historical marker at the Daniel Boone gravesite in Frankfort, Kentucky.

A historical marker at the Daniel Boone gravesite in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Whether or not it is Boone’s remains buried there has long been a mystery. A number of newspapers, historians and family reports as well as forensics indicate that the wrong body may have been brought back to Kentucky. Rebecca Boone died in 1813 and it was rumored that years later when gravediggers were preparing to bury Daniel beside her, they found the remains of someone else. Some historians were quoted as saying he was buried near Rebecca’s feet instead of at her side and this may have led to confusion and bringing the wrong body back to Kentucky. A gravesite remains in Marthasville, Missouri as well.

Daniel Boone was born in Pennsylvania in 1734. He spent many years exploring and settling the wilderness of Kentucky. He built Fort Boonesborough near Winchester, Kentucky in 1775. It was the state’s first non-Indian settlement. When he believed Kentucky had become too crowded, he continued on to Missouri and was living there at the time of his death.

Other notable people buried in the Frankfort Cemetery include Paul Sawyer, Joel T. Hart, Theodore O’Hara, Vice President Richard M. Johnson and 17 Kentucky Governors.





Kentucky Tourism website, accessed July 12, 2016. The Body in Daniel Boone's Grave May Not Be His, The New York Times. July 21, 1983, accessed July 12, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/21/garden/the-body-in-daniel-boone-s-grave-may-not-be-his.html Kentucky Historical Marker Database, accessed July 12, 2016. http://migration.kentucky.gov/kyhs/hmdb/MarkerSearch.aspx?mode=All