The Daniel Carter Beard Boyhood Home is a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

located in the Riverside Drive Historic District of Covington, Kentucky, overlooking the Licking River, across the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

from

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. The two-and-one-half story brick domicile, built in 1821 and one of the two oldest buildings in Kenton County, Kentucky, is the boyhood home of

Daniel Carter Beard Daniel Carter "Uncle Dan" Beard (June 21, 1850 – June 11, 1941) was an American illustrator, author, youth leader, Georgist and social reformer who founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, which Beard later merged with the Boy Scouts of Ameri ...

, a founder of the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...

. He was their National Scout Commissioner from its 1910 founding to his death in 1941.

Background

Born in Cincinnati in 1850, Daniel Carter Beard moved with his family to Covington, Kentucky and the house by the river when he was eleven years old. Growing up, he routinely heard stories of Daniel Boone. Beard so idolized Boone that the boy and his friends dubbed themselves the "Boone Scouts" and sought to emulate the frontiersman. These Boone Scouts would engage in several activities, including sneaking past sentries of the various

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

camps in town during the Civil War. Beard was preparing for the life of camping, hand crafts, and nature that he lived as an adult. Beard moved away when he went to college, and following graduation, moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Beard's family left the house in 1878 to move to New York City to join Daniel. Beard was last in Covington in 1934, when a parade was held in his honor. Scouts from

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

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, and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

came to show their appreciation. His boyhood home was declared a

in 1966., also available , and William Booth Memorial Hospital owned the building at the time that it was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1966. They had been using it as a nursing school and dorm for the nursing students. The hospital is still located north of the Home. The home is now a private residence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beard Boyhood Home, Daniel Carter Houses completed in 1821 National Historic Landmarks in Kentucky National Register of Historic Places in Kenton County, Kentucky Houses in Kenton County, Kentucky Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky Scouting monuments and memorials Buildings and structures in Covington, Kentucky Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Kentucky 1821 establishments in Kentucky