Today I ventured north of my mostly undisclosed location to see two sites here in Missouri. The first was Boone's Lick State Historical Site, at which Nathan Boone and Daniel Morgan Boone, sons of Daniel Boone, once produced salt from saltwater springs. Next to the site's parking lot was an interpretive shelter, through which a concrete walkway led, with a picnic shelter behind it.
A short trail led from these shelters down to a looped trail around the actual place where the Boone brothers produced salt. Not only did I have the place to myself, but as I walked along the trails, my forehead twice caught spider webs, which meant that it might have been some time since anyone else had been there. To my disappointment, there were several interpretive signs, but I could find no artifact from salt production other than this kettle, which was placed upside-down and chained to the ground.
A creek runs by the site, just outside of the looped trail.
To learn more about Boone's Lick, go to Visit Missouri, Breathaway Outdoors America and InspiRock. The place may be reached by going on MO Route 87 to about a mile north of the small town of Boonesboro, and then turning west onto MO Routh 187, which is just over two miles long. Boone's Lick is at MO 187's west end. In fact, I'd say that MO 187 exists mainly to connect Boone's Lick with MO 87 and the outside world.
After visiting Boone's Lick, I continued northward to the city of Keytesville and Price Park, which includes a statue of Confederate General Sterling Price. Although Missouri never seceded from the Union, there was a large secessionist movement within the state, which led to many Civil War battles being fought there. (For example, see my post from June 2019 entitled "On The Road In Missouri", where I visited the site of the Battle of Athens.) Thus, it's no surprise that someone who lived in Missouri became a high-ranking Confederate officer.
Sterling Price was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, to a planter family that owned slaves. In 1830, he and his parents moved to Missouri, where they renewed their agriculture and slave ownership on a farm near Keytesville. During his lifetime, he served in the Missouri House of Representatives, including some time as its speaker; served in the U.S. Congress; was governor of Missouri; was a major general in command of the Missouri State Guard, which was allied to the Confederacy; and was a major general in the Confederate army. He died of cholera in 1867.
I took this shot of Price's statue, which faces south. Price Park's gazebo is in the background.
To learn more about General Price, go to Civil War On The Western Border, American Battlefield Trust, The Civil War In Missouri and Historic Missourians.
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