The Daniel Boone Homestead will celebrate the fall season with its Heritage Day Fall Festival on Sunday, Oct. 18, offering an afternoon of colonial demonstrations, living history programs and hands-on activities.
The festival will run from noon to 4 p.m. and feature demonstrations of trades and skills from colonial and early American life. This year’s event will also continue the Homestead’s celebration of America250 while introducing several new participants and demonstrations.
Activities will include blacksmithing, gunsmithing, leatherworking, open-hearth cooking, tinsmithing, spinning, gardening and an 18th-century fashion display. Living history interpreters will discuss the colonial militia and Dragoons, while visitors will have an opportunity to participate in a muster activity using wooden dummy guns and swords.
Stone House History will return with tape weaving and wood carving demonstrations. Colonial musician Robert Mouland will perform throughout the afternoon using historic instruments and dancing puppets.
The Brandywine Fife and Drum Corps will also perform and share information about the role of fifes and drums during the American Revolution. Coffee with a Colonial will make its first appearance at the festival, providing visitors with information about coffee and its place in colonial life.
Hands-on activities for children and adults will include candle dipping, quill pen writing and colonial toys and games. Children can also participate in seasonal activities such as pumpkin painting. Artisan craft and specialty food vendors will be available during the event.
Visitors will be able to tour the Boone House and Bertolet Log House and learn about the three families who lived on the property during the 18th and early 19th centuries.
Inside the Boone House, an apothecary display will feature period medical instruments. Visitors can also see the spring cellar, the oldest portion of the house, and encounter living history demonstrations by a laundress and tailor in the Boone Yard. The three-room Bertolet Log House provides an example of early Germanic architecture.
Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors age 65 and older and $5 for youth ages 6 to 17. Children age 5 and younger and Daniel Boone Homestead Associates members are admitted free. Pets, except service animals, and smoking are not permitted.
The Heritage Day Fall Festival is presented and funded by the Daniel Boone Homestead Associates.
The Daniel Boone Homestead, located near Baumstown between Reading and Pottstown, is the birthplace of frontiersman Daniel Boone, who was born there in 1734. The property encompasses 579 acres and includes the 10-room Boone House, which was constructed in three stages during the 18th century.
The Homestead is owned by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, with daily historic operations managed by the nonprofit Daniel Boone Homestead Associates.