Sarah Boone Wilcox Cabin for Sale (Again)
Compiled by Janet Willcoxon de la Peña,
Descendant of John Willcoxon
Squire and Sarah Morgan Boone had a large family, which included their son, Daniel Boone, the famous pioneer and trailblazer. Their oldest child was daughter, Sarah, named appropriately after her mother when she was born June 7, 1724, in Chalfont, New Britain Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. She became her mother’s much needed help with daily household chores and helped to care for younger siblings, including her someday famous little brother.
Sarah fell in love with her father’s hired help, John Willcoxson, who lived in the Squire Boone home. John was like her father: strong, adventurous, and a weaver. Pregnant and excommunicated by the Quakers, Sarah married John on May 25, 1742, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and had a large family.
John and Sarah eventually left Pennsylvania and settled near her Boone family on the Yadkin River in Rowan County, North Carolina. The 1790 Census for Rowan County, NC, shows the Willcocksons living on Bear Creek, south of the present town of Mocksville, (formerly Rowan, now Davie) County, NC. It is said that Daniel Boone frequently visited his sister and her family at this homestead.
It is also said that John was an Indian fighter and that the cabin he built on Bear Creek, before 1756, was probably used as a fort during Indian attacks.
In 1987, the Daniel Boone Heritage Trail was established in Ashe County with a grant from the state, where the cabin of Daniel’s sister, Sarah, was listed as one of the historical sites that could be visited along the way.
For over 200 years, the homestead has been bought and sold by both family and strangers. A current tourist brochure welcomes you to the “Pioneer Homestead, Bed & Breakfast, Daniel Boone’s Sister’s Cabin.” It states that the 112 acres include a small, old log house called “Lil’ Gray Cabin.” It also refers to the “Old Wilcox Homeplace,” located now in Ashe County on Hwy N.C. 194 at Laurel Knob Gap. From Hwy 221, out of West Jefferson, it is less than two miles above the historic community of Todd. The National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution believes that the homestead is one of Ashe County’s oldest homes, still very much like the homes of pioneer days.
The National Trust Property Guide posted an article about the “Sarah Boone Cabin, North Carolina, USA,” stating that in 2005, the cabin of John and Sarah Willcockson, Sr., located in Ashe County, NC, was offered for sale for $340,000. John and Sarah had lived on the homestead in their old age. The article continued, stating that in approximately 1798 this homestead was received in a grant from the state of North Carolina to Samuel Willcockson (Wilcox), son of Sarah Boone and her husband John Willcockson. At the top of the knoll behind the homeplace is the old Wilcox Cemetery: “Our Little Angel’s Valley of the Clouds.”
In the Spring of 2013, the house was put up for sale again, presented by Preservation North Carolina: “Historic Properties for Sale.” The property was referred to this time as the “Sarah Boone-Wilcox Cabin and Farm,” described as “tranquility and history combined in the majestic mountains of western NC. The price was reduced to $206,000, and negotiable.” (The Wilcox Cemetery on the knoll is not included in the sale.)
The ad states that the cabin is approximately 1,300 square feet and has thick and wide floor planks, two bedrooms, one and a half baths, an 1800s free-standing tub, two large stone fireplaces, a living room, a dining room, a spacious kitchen, a large detached shed used as a three-car garage, and a carpeted outhouse! It has been seasonally rented for the past 15 years.