The Daniel Boone Homestead, the birthplace of the American pioneer and frontiersman, will be the site of several upcoming programs in March.

A quilt making workshop will be presented on Saturday, March 16, from 9 a.m. to noon in the DeTurk Education Center. The workshop, led by the Hopewell Quilters, is open to people of all skill levels, including those who wanted to learn the art of quilting. Participants will make a potholder to take home. A fee will be charged for the workshop, and space is limited. Registration is required by emailing thedanielboonehomestead@gmail.com or calling 610-582-4900.

The Hopewell Quilters are a group of quilting enthusiasts who primarily demonstrate quilting at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Elverson. The Hopewell Quilters are volunteers. We demonstrate quilting on Fridays March through October and are at special event days at Daniel Boone Homestead, Hopewell Quilters member Becky Hughes noted. We have been doing some special events at Hopewell as well. We started quilting together about 18 years ago.  

Hughes added that while members of the group are quilting at Hopewell on Friday afternoons in the park, visitors are invited to make their own stitches on a practice piece of cloth. Members are also hand to talk about quilting with visitors.

To learn more about the group, visit http://www.facebook.com and search for Hopewell Quilters.

A Charter Day Open House event celebrating Pennsylvanias 343rd birthday will take place at Daniel Boone Homestead on Sunday, March 10, from noon to 4 p.m. The event is designed to celebrate the time when England's King Charles II granted William Penn the charter to create Pennsylvania on March 12, 1681.

At Daniel Boone Homestead, the living history event will feature re-enactors demonstrating 18th-century skills, including gunsmithing, leatherworking and blacksmithing. Craft and specialty food vendors as well as food trucks and concessions will be open during the day.

Volunteers will also cook a meal over the hearth in the kitchen. According to Amanda Machik, manager of site events and programs, the end of winter or the beginning of spring at the homestead was called the hungry times or six weeks of want.

It was the end of winter, and they didnt have a lot left as far as food goes, which is literally where they got the phrase, Scrape the bottom of the barrel, she stated. Meats that they butchered and preserved in the fall were almost gone. Produce and root vegetables were extremely limited. For those six weeks of want it was a hodgepodge of what they could throw together.

Fortunately, she noted, cooks were able to add more eggs, milk, cheese and butter to their meals. When spring started, the animals started to produce more, said Machik. The hens increased their egg laying and the family cow would produce more milk.

Buildings in the historic area that will be open for viewing on Charter Day will include the Boone House, smokehouse, blacksmith shop, homestead barn and Bertolet log house. Children will be able to enjoy Colonial toys and games. The Bertolet sawmill will also be in operation throughout the day. Sawmill demonstrations will take place at 1 and 3 p.m.

There is no admission fee for Charter Day, but donations are welcome. No pets, with the exception of service animals, are permitted on the site, and there is no smoking.

For weather-related updates or more information, visit http://www.thedanielboonehomestead.org or http://www.facebook.com/danielboonehomestead.

The Daniel Boone Homestead, 400 Daniel Boone Road, Birdsboro, is located halfway between Reading and Pottstown, 1 mile north of Route 422 near Baumstown. The homestead is owned by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and daily historic operations are run by the Daniel Boone Homestead Associates, a local nonprofit organization.