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Re-Enactor of the Month

by Jim Cummings

We are preserving living history today so that the past will not be forgotten.
Jim Cummings

To See Past Re-Enactor of the Week

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Scott New

Scott New recently appeared at The Locust Grove Afternoon Lecture Series in Louisville, Kentucky where we had a chance to catch up with him.  He is part of the Kentucky Humanities Series of Performances. Daniel Boone Pathfinder is the name of his portrayal. Having appeared in over 5 feature films (often as Daniel Boone) he is not only a re-enactor but a performer as well. His portrayal of Daniel Boone is so vivid that many of the visitors at Locust Grove, when asking questions after the performance, had trouble distinguishing between New and Boone

If you ever see this performance scheduled for a venue near you be sure to attend. Most of us as re-enactors can look like we stepped out of the past - but Scott New also sounds like he has. 

Daniel Boone:  Pathfinder

By Helen E. McKinney

Historian Ted Franklin Belue wrote that Daniel Boone ``embodies the best of what makes America proud-honesty, determination, undaunted courage." Belue's statement accurately describes living history presenter, Scott New.

New gave a Chautauqua performance of Boone on Feb. 4 as part of Locust Grove's Afternoon Lecture Series. He is a historical interpreter at Wilderness Road State Park in Lee County, Va. Clothed in period mannerisms and attire, New breathed fresh insight into a significant legend in Kentucky history.

Boone was born in 1734 in Berks County, Penn. to Quaker immigrants, Squire and Sarah Morgan Boone. In the early 1750's, Boone and his family moved to the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina. It is there that he met his wife of 56 years and mother of his nine children, Rebecca Bryan. Boone died in 1820 in Defiance, Missouri.

The Boone home in Penn. was close in proximity to groups of Native Americans; and Boone would frequently interact with these peaceful Indians, becoming familiar with their ways. ``Boone was excellent at tracking animals and people," said New, 39. Boone and his younger brother Squire possessed ``a profound skill in woodscraft." A craft no doubt acquired from the Indian acquaintances of his youth.

Squire would often search for Daniel when he had been away too long. The brothers would leave signs in the forest for one another when time came for their appointed meeting. Daniel would often employ an old Indian tactic by cutting symbols, such as bears or moons, into the bark of trees to lead Squire to him.

Always one to despise farming, Boone preferred a nomadic lifestyle, exploring the lush, green woods instead of being confined to the drudgery of daily farming life. ``He was very proud of his identity as a woodsman," said New.

New at Locust Grove

New researched the Draper Manuscripts extensively in preparation for his portrayal of Boone. Wanting to be historically correct, New said Neal O. Hammon of Shelbyville, KY was his chief consultant. Hammon has written several books about the Revolutionary War period, and compiled My Father, Daniel Boone, based upon his research into Draper's interviews with Boone's son, Nathan.

In his presentation New dispels some common myths about Boone, pointing out that many of the things we think we know about the famous frontiersman are in fact, incorrect. New referred to Boone as ``a proper, Christian, 18th century gentleman," who never wore a coonskin cap. Contrary to this popular belief, New said Boone preferred the typical slouch hat that was fashionable during his time period.

New commented that the idea of Boone wearing a coonskin cap probably had its origin in an old stage play performed in Cincinnati in the 1800's. The actor portraying Boone didn't have anything else to wear on his head but the coonskin cap, New said.

Originally from Berea, KY, New said he has always been interested in the Kentucky frontier. His parents hail from McCreary and Bell Counties in KY, so he grew up surrounded by tales of Daniel Boone and the Cumberland Gap area. He credits his grandfather as the one who pointed out the ``real" Daniel Boone to him. His grandfather was the first person to dispel the myths surrounding Boone, and instilled in New a quest to uncover the real man behind the legendary name.

Resembling the real woodsman in appearance, New was asked to portray Boone for the KY Humanities Council. ``He picked me and I picked him," he said of his decision to portray Boone.

He said he presents Boone at age 41 as if ``Boone had just stepped in out of the woods," to retell stories of his life. These tales recount many of Boone's exploits:  his capture by Shawnee Indians, his escape from Indians by traveling 160 miles in four days to warn the inhabitants of Fort Boonesborough of an impending Indian attack, the loss of his eldest son, James, and Boone's leading of a team of thirty men to blaze a road through Cumberland Gap.

After a visit to Colonial Williamsburg when he was young, New said he never forgot the sight of re-enactors portraying such larger-than-life figures as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry.

From that moment on New thought, ``This is it. I want to do that." Life has now come full circle for Scott New.

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