The old springhouse, plat 94
The springhouse at Boone's Creek. This structure is within the original plat laid out by William Bean, which makes this site and the several hundred acres around it Tennessee's first European style private property. The Bean family's Plat 94 wrapped around the bend of the creek and incorporated this spring, the first on Boone's Creek above its confluence with the Watauga, 94 poles (1500 feet) downstream. When you're the first, you get to pick the best. The plat number 94 comes from the 1777 Watauga Land Lease records, which were numbered simply by the order the surveyors and witnesses recorded them, not by date of settlement.
Boone's Creek is just beyond the farthest soil and grass you can see in this photo. From this perspective, it runs from left to right.
About a mile upstream from here is where Daniel Boone carved "Dan'l Boone kilt a bar" on a Beech tree next to the creek. He also hid from Cherokees by hiding under the overhang of a tiny waterfall on this creek. Boone, who was good friends with William Bean, first led Bean to this creek on hunting trips. It's a very safe bet they both drank from this spring on those early hunts.
If you want to know where Tennessee was born, you're looking at it.
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© Dan MacDonald Photography
