History

The Cemetery was incorporated on February 27, 1844 and the corporation purchased the first plot of land on February 16, 1845.

September 13, 1845 saw the re-interment of Daniel and Rebecca Boone before thousands of visitors.

Lucien Wingate died on January 4, 1846 and his grave became the first to join the Boones in the newly made cemetery.

The Frankfort Cemetery Company deeded Lots One and Two to the Trustees of the City of Frankfort. Lot One was to be a burial place for slaves and persons of color. Lot Two was for the indigent (a Potter’s Field) for the city.

On February 1, 1847 The Frankfort Cemetery Company deeded a .52 acre parcel to The Commonwealth of Kentucky This “central mound” was to be reserved for Kentucky’s military dead. It became known as the “State Mound”

The memorial at the Boone Gravesite

Other Famous Kentuckians

Richard Mentor Johnson former Vice President of the United States was buried in the State Mound on November 20, 1850.

Governor Charles Scott
Honorable William T. Barry
Bland Ballard, Indian fighter
Governor Christopher Greenup
Governor George Madison
Marine Leiutenant Presley O’Bannon (made an heroic asault on the Barbary Pirate fortress in Tripoli.

On July 4, 1916 the local Daughters of the American Revolution held dedication ceremonies for the Revolutionary War Soldiers of Kentucky Lot. The remains of Colonel Anthony Crockett, Reverend William Hickman, and Reverend John Gano were re-interred there.

IN 1906 The Daughters of the American Revolution, assisted by The Kentucky General Assembly, renewed the vandalized Boone monument. The monument had been vandalized shortly after it was dedicated in 1860. Damaged sculptural panels were replaced with exact reproductions of the originals.