As early as 1750, Dr. Thomas Walker discovered a gateway through the Appalachian Mountains, which he named the Cumberland Gap. This discovery was the key to opening up the Ohio Valley for settlement. However, Walker was unable to find the fabled Blue Grass country that he had heard about from the Indians. It would be up to the famous hunter and frontiersman Daniel Boone to explore the area and establish the first settlement in Kentucky. In 1775 Boone led a party through the Cumberland Gap. With thirty axmen, he blazed a trail to the Kentucky River. This trail became known as the Wilderness Trail.

After completing the trail, Boone founded a fortified town on the shore of the Kentucky River. Boone was hired to build the road and the settlement of Boonesborough by Judge Richard Henderson. Henderson dreamed of establishing a proprietary colony to which...