"Many heroic exploits and chivalrous adventures are related to me which exist only in the regions of fancy. With me the world has taken great liberties, and yet I have been but a common man." ....Daniel Boone

       

UPDATE, 10 Sept. 2005: Gov. Fletcher recently signed documents naming US 25E from Corbin to Middlesboro the Daniel Boone-Cumberland Gap Wilderness Trail. Controversy arose in 2003 when outgoing Gov. Paul Patton (a Democrat) renamed the Daniel Boone Parkway in honor of sitting U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers. Read more about it

2003: The first two signs will soon be seen no more in Kentucky. Already they are being replaced with the third one seen here. "Frankfort, Ky.- (6/10/03) - Yesterday before U. S. Congressman Hal Rogers knocked down the tollbooth on the Daniel Boone Parkway, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary James C. Codell, III announced that the parkway would now officially be named the Hal Rogers Parkway." [Kentucky news release]

The highway that runs through London and Hazard, Kentucky was named The Daniel Boone Parkway in honor of Daniel Boone when it was first built. In recent weeks The Kentucky Department of Transportation has announced that they are removing Daniel Boone's name from the parkway and replacing it with the name of Hal Rogers, a congressman from Somerset, Kentucky. As a Kentuckian myself, this greatly disappoints me.

In my opinion, this is treating Boone unfairly again and I also feel that it is dishonoring Kentucky's glorious heritage as well. I think it will, in the long run, be very injurous to the state. As one writer put it, the name of Daniel Boone is associated with Kentucky all over the world... when you can say Kentucky in China and a little aged Chinese lady remarks, "Hal Rogers!" and not "Daniel Boone!" ... then maybe Kentucky should consider this change.

I hasten to add that it appears that a vast majority of Kentucky residents are also very upset with this and many of them are speaking up about it. As Boone relatives, admirers, historians, concerned Americans, or certainly as Kentuckians, please consider joining Kentucky citizens in voicing opposition to this action. Most born and bred Kentuckians identify much more with Daniel Boone than with any politician being very well paid for his services with taxpayer money. Politics should NEVER replace the pride Americans take in their heritage.

Special to Kentucky Tax Payers: Please let them know how you feel about it - afterall you pay for it!

Additional Note: Please, everyone, we need to remember that this is a political issue. It has nothing to do with the wonderful patriotic people of Kentucky nor with the Commonwealth of Kentucky itself. Kentucky is one of the greatest places on earth and as Kentuckians will all tell you, when you start putting down Kentucky in any way, you are walking on our "fighting side." Be careful how you state your opinions about this whole thing and remember that it is the politicians who are doing this. We have them in every state in the country -- even yours.

CONTACT:

For other Kentucky government officials please visit [http://www.kentucky.gov]

UPDATE - February 23, 2004

The following is from Kentucky Roads.Com

US 25 News Items

Bill Would Keep Hal Rogers Parkway Name and Name Second Route for Daniel Boone
Posted: 21-Feb-2004 3:41PM CST

Topics: [ Daniel Boone Parkway/Hal Rogers Parkway] [US 25] The Kentucky House of Representatives passed a bill on Friday that would keep the name Hal Rogers Parkway on the London-Harzard parkway and would name US 25E between Corbin and Middlesboro the “Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail.” The house hopes that this compromise will be acceptable since US 25E roughly follows the path of Wilderness Trail. Daniel Boone helped blaze the Wilderness Trail in 1769. The path through the Cumberland Gap helped open Kentucky to settlement.

More information: WKYT: Daniel Boone May Have Another Road Named for Him (Feb. 21, 2004) , Associated Press: Part of U.S. 25E could be Daniel Boone Trail (Feb. 21, 2004).

UPDATE - September 18, 2003

Below is the text of BR 125 from Brent Yonts (Ky State Representative) requesting the name change to "Daniel Boone-Hal Rogers Parkway", not Daniel Boone Parkway.

A JOINT RESOLUTION naming the Daniel Boone-Hal Rogers Parkway. WHEREAS, Daniel Boone was responsible, perhaps more than any other individual, for the exploration and settlement of the State of Kentucky; and

WHEREAS, Daniel Boone's first encounter with the territory now known as Kentucky was in 1767 when he camped for the winter at Salt Spring near Prestonsburg; and

WHEREAS, on May 1, 1769, Boone and five other men traveled over the Cumberland Gap and established a camp at Station Camp Creek; and

WHEREAS, for approximately two years, Boone and his companions explored Kentucky as far west as the Falls of the Ohio near Louisville; and

WHEREAS, during his exploration Daniel Boone spent the winter of 1769-1770 in a cave on the waters of Shawanee in Mercer County and he carved his name in a tree near the cave that continues to stand today as a testament to Boone's visit; and

WHEREAS, in 1773 Daniel Boone again trekked through Kentucky and in 1774 he built a cabin in Harrodsburg; and

WHEREAS, it was on his trip to Kentucky in 1774 that Daniel Boone followed the Kentucky River to its mouth; and

WHEREAS, in 1775 Colonel Richard Henderson of the Translyvania Company hired Daniel Boone to serve as his agent, and on March 1 Boone once again came to the area he called the "Great Meadow" and with thirty settlers began to clear the path that would open Kentucky to the colonists -- a path Boone would name the "Wilderness Road"; and

WHEREAS, by April 1775 Daniel Boone and his party were establishing a stockade and fort at Boonesboro which led to a settlement that repealed repeated attacks during the American Revolution and eventually became a permanent village; and

WHEREAS, even though Daniel Boone and his beloved wife Rebecca were buried in Missouri, they were brought home to Kentucky twenty-five years after Boone's death to be reinterred in the Frankfort Cemetery; and

WHEREAS, Daniel and Rebecca Boone found their final peace resting on a bluff over looking the Kentucky River and the City of Frankfort, a bluff that is like the ones Boone climbed countless times and called a "high, far-seeing place", where he could see the land beyond; and

WHEREAS, the importance of Daniel Boone to the history, culture, and traditions of Kentucky cannot be emphasized enough, not only to past generations, but to present and future generations as well; and

WHEREAS, a national forest that encompasses a large portion of Kentucky is named in honor of Daniel Boone; and

WHEREAS, the legend of Daniel Boone has inspired national bestsellers, a hit television series, and several full-length movies; and

WHEREAS, the thirst of visitors from across the nation and the world to experience Daniel Boone's life and adventures fuels the tourism industry across the length and breadth of the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, in 1974 the state opened a vital transportation link for the southeastern part of the state and named the route the Daniel Boone Parkway, a sixty mile corridor that traverses remote, mountainous forest, not unlike the terrain Boone explored so long ago; and

WHEREAS, the Daniel Boone Parkway was one of four remaining parkways that levied tolls until early 2003 when U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers announced that he had obtained $13 million in federal funding to remove the tolls from both the Daniel Boone and Louie B. Nunn (Cumberland) Parkways; and

WHEREAS, there is complete consensus that removal of the tolls from the Daniel Boone and Louie B. Nunn (Cumberland) Parkways will serve as an unprecedented economic stimulus for the southern and eastern regions of the state; and

WHEREAS, even though other parkways in the state have been named to honor state and federal elected officials in addition to former Governor Louie B. Nunn, specifically the Julian Carroll (Purchase) Parkway, as well as former Governor and United States Senator Wendell Ford (Western Kentucky) Parkway, a controversial decision has been made administratively to totally rename the Daniel Boone Parkway the Harold Rogers Parkway, in honor of not only Congressman Roger's procurement of federal funds to remove tolls on the parkway, but for his dedicated service for over two decades of championing the causes of the region's citizens in Washington; and

WHEREAS, an incomparable statesman, Congressman Hal Rogers has been an invaluable asset to Kentucky and deserves to be honored and remembered for his life as a public servant; and

WHEREAS, while not wishing to impugn Congressman Rogers and his stellar career and service to Kentucky, citizens across the state have expressed outrage at removing all references to Daniel Boone on highway signs and maps; and

WHEREAS, a compromise would be for highway signs and maps to include both the name Daniel Boone Parkway and Hal Rogers Parkway, identical to how signage is handled for the Western Kentucky Parkway and Wendell Ford Parkway;

NOW, THEREFORE, Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:

Section 1. The Transportation Cabinet shall rename the Hal Rogers Parkway to the "Daniel Boone-Hal Rogers Parkway".

Section 2. The Transportation Cabinet shall, within thirty days of the effective date of this Resolution, ensure highway signs are erected that read "Daniel Boone-Hal Rogers Parkway" and shall reprint all highway maps to reflect the appropriate name change.

Sources: Photos of road signs were graciously shared with me by the photographer, Mr. H.B. Elkins,
The Milinnium Highway