It is no wonder Columbia is once again hosting the Roots N Blues N BBQ festival. This city has a long history with music.
Until 1927, J.W. “Blind” Boone lived at 10 N. Fourth Street. At the time, Boone was one of the world’s most famous musicians, according to the website of the J.W. “Blind” Boone Heritage Foundation. “Along with Scott Joplin and James Scott, Boone made up Missouri’s Big Three, the most influential musicians in the state known as the home of ragtime, the precursor of jazz,” the site states.
Hear Boone’s music by going to this link. Today, the home is being preserved with plans under way for a garden and interior work. To help fund the project, go here.
Along with the music of this weekend, Columbia is filled with historic homes. Here’s an interactive map you can follow to see all of Columbia’s historic homes from the J.W. “Blind” Boone home on Fourth Street to the historic home sometimes called Confederate Hill or the Guitar Mansion at 2815 Oakland Gravel Road, once slated to become a bed and breakfast, but now once again a private home.