Saturday morning we got up early and went to Joppa Cemetery where our Boone ancestors are buried and visited their graves. The graves of Squire and Sarah are clearly marked with historical signs etc… but we could not locate the graves of Israel and his wife (in my genealogy research no one has ever been able to find out her name). While in the cemetery we did some geocaching as a cache was hidden inside and we quickly found it. Nice! Afterward we went to another cache site and found it as well. Then we were back to the festival where we found good parking and decided to take one of the guided bus tours. The tour was nice and one stop was back at the cemetery we had visited earlier that morning. This time we had a tour guide who shared a lot of info with us. I asked her if she knew where Israel and his wife were buried and she looked astonished and told me that she thought so but couldn’t tell me as it was not yet confirmed. Debbie and I had noticed 2 rocks lying to the left of Squire and Sarah’s graves and I had wondered if that may have been their graves. The tour guide then told me I was standing “very close” to what is expected as their graves and there at my feet were the 2 rocks. I asked if those rocks marked their graves and she said “maybe”. She had received a letter from a Boone descendent in Connecticut who has a letter dated 1850 that gives the location of Israel and his wife’s graves within the cemetery so at present time they are trying to confirm the location. She was so reluctant to tell me any info until I told her Israel and his wife are my direct line ancestors. It was only then that she would tell me anything but she was shocked that I had asked her about them and had even known they are buried there. I suspect their 2 young daughters are also buried there. Israel, his wife and the 2 little girls all died within a few months of each other in 1756. The two survivors of the family were the two boys, Jonathon (my line) and Jesse who were raised by their uncle Daniel. The tour guide wanted me to leave my contact info with her because she wants to put me in touch with the man in CT. I was thrilled to do so and will follow up with her to make sure she has done so. The rest of the bus tour was nice and we learned a lot. I had made T-shirts for Debbie and I to wear stating that we are Boone descendents but no one seemed to notice or comment on them. Nearly two hours later we arrived back at the festival, ate lunch then went to Junker’s Mill to claim our seats for the musical acts of the day. The one we were interested in was Mike Cross, the headliner for the show and the last performer closing out the festival. We were lucky enough to grab front row center seats but that meant staying there all afternoon. We were treated with a couple of blue grass bands then came a blues group that was outstanding! We really enjoyed them and it was a nice change after hearing bluegrass all afternoon. Mike Cross finally came on and the audience was treated to his many talents. Fantastic! The only thing was it was another triple digit temperature day so we were HOT! It was awful. And we had spent nearly 6 hours sitting on those hard folding chairs. By the end of the festival we were all complaining of sore butts and with the heat and humidity there was not a dry thread on any of us. WHEW! From there it was back to the hotel for cool showers and dry clothing for us all then out to dinner at a seafood restaurant. We did one more geocache nearby… we were three for three. By that then it was time to call it a night. We were all exhausted. This is only the second year of the festival and Mocksville is a small town so the crowds were small (very nice!!!). We had a lot of fun and anytime we are together with Debbie and Rusty is a fun time. Mocksville is a cute little town and still rural and almost untouched by all the commercialism that has overtaken most places. There is a super Walmart in town though so it is only a matter of time that things will change. For now it is great! The countryside was so beautiful. I think I could live there.
a state historical marker at the Joppa Cemetery entrance
Squire and Sarah Boone's graves. Squire's is the large stone on the left and Sarah's is the small one on the right. Apparently visitors were chiseling off pieces of the stones to keep as souvenirs so they ended up putting the stones inside the brick wall. 
Debbie and I standing on the sides of Squire and Sarah's graves
this is the back of our T-shirts, on the front in the upper left corner I had our line from Squire on down listed
Junker's Mill was the site where all the music was during the festival
Mike Cross entertains the crowd with one of his stories before singing a song
