Burlington, Kentucky: Mary Draper Ingles, Indian Survivor

Mary escaped from her Indian captors and somehow made her way over 500 miles back home to Virginia. The statue depicts her as gaunt and barefoot; children sometimes confuse her with the Grim Reaper.

Address:: Taylor Drive, Burlington, KY
Directions:: The statue stands in front of the entrance to the main branch of the Boone County Public Library, which is east of Burlington. From Hwy 18/Burlington Pike turn north at the stoplight onto Taylor Drive, then left into the library parking lot. The statue is not visible from the highway.
Admission:: Free

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Mary Draper Ingles, Indian Survivor.

Mary Draper Ingles, Indian Survivor

The statue is near the back door of the library and it's quite beautiful. There is a small plaque dedicated to Mary Draper Ingles near the interpretive center at nearby Big Bone Lick, where the Shawnee brought her to collect salt and where she made her escape. The plaque mentions that after her harrowing ordeal, she lived to the ripe old age of 83!

[Kitsa, 08/03/2017]

Mary Draper Ingles.

Mary Draper Ingles

A bronze statue of Mary Draper Ingles, the subject of the book "Follow The River."

[Rusty Cox, 09/04/2016]

According to a plaque on the statue's base, Mary was a pioneer wife captured by Indians and dragged to northern Kentucky. She then "fought her way through 800 miles of uncharted wilderness" back home to Virginia, "barely alive." The 2008 statue by Matt Langford shows Mary as a gaunt, barefoot survivor.