“The Draper Manuscripts indicate that Boone’s ‘first venture westward,’ from the Yadkin River area in North Carolina into Virginia with Nathaniel Gist as a companion, was in 1760. They entered Virginia at Whitetop Mountain… . They had an unobstructed view from Whitetop, so named because the treeless portions appear white during winter snows. The westward view was inviting, so they found their way to the spot that later came to be known as Abingdon.
“In the night they were disturbed by wolves lurking in the surrounding darkness, their eyes reflecting light from the campfire. With morning their dogs to the wolves’ den, a cave which underlies the Washington County courthouse hill in Abingdon. Boone names the place Wolf Hill, which became the name of the settlement starting there in 1768.” (Hendricks, p. 3; see also note below)
Just as “George Washington slept here” became a trope (or a cliché) in the years following the American War for Independence, “Dan’l Boone kilt a bar,” or variations thereof, became a trope/cliché that accompanied Western expansion in the latter part of the 18th Century. Because beechwood was the most durable “it was sometime used as a canvas by those with pocket knives who wished to commemorate their memories.” Daniel Boone left a trail of these on his way west. “One such trophy carving was found in the forests of Louisville, Kentucky, and it read “D. Boone Kilt a Bar, 1803.” (“D. Boone Kilt a Bar,” Old Wood Ltd.)
Closer to home is (or was) a piece of bark into which is carved ‘D. Boone killed a bar.’ The tree was located up until the 1880’s near Boone’s Creek, Tennessee. The image was captured by photographer G.N. Wertz, of Abingdon, and is preserved in the Draper Manuscripts at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Strangely, a similar piece of wood can be found in the description of the décor of The Bank/Preston House in “Historical Houses of Washington County: “…in the hall is an old piece of wood inscribed with the notation ‘D. Boone kilt a bar on this tree—1773.’ John M. Preston, James W. Preston’s father, cut the slab from a beech tree near what is now Kingsport, Tennessee.” (“Historical Houses of Washington County, Virginia,” p. 17)
Note: according to Dale Carter, “Thomas Walker refered to Abingdon as Wolf Hills long before Daniel Boone was in the area. Walker surveyed the land in 1750 and named it the Wolf Hills Tract in 1752.” (Hagy, “Errata”; see also: “Wolf Hill Patent: Was Thomas Walker a Crook?,” W. Dale Carter, Historic Sullivan, Kingsport, TN., c. 2004)
- “Daniel Boone as a Virginian,” Walter H. Hendricks. HS Pub., Bulletin II, No. 24, 1987 (p.3)
- Old Wood Ltd.: https://www.oldewoodltd.com/blog/d-boone-kilt-a-bar#:~:text=One%20such%20trophy%20carving%20was,a%20bear%20under%20this%20tree
- Draper Manuscript, Daniel Boone Papers, 1760-1911. Draper MSS 17C, p. 18. Image ID: 91648 https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/image/IM91648
- “The Bank,” Historical Houses of Washington County, Va., ed. George J. Stevenson. HS Pub, Bulletin II, No. 6, 1968
- History of Washington County, Virginia to 1865, James William Hagy. (“Errata,”)