Fort Boonesborough was built by settlers as a refuge in times of trouble, but when the threat of Indian attack declined, people abandoned it. Richard Henderson's dream of Boonesborough as the capital of his colony ended when the Virginia legislature declared the Transylvania purchase null and void. The state later granted a charter for the town, but disputes among the trustees delayed development for years. Boonesborough gained support in 1788 when the county court established a tobacco inspection station there, but it suffered a setback four years later when it failed to become the state capital. The tobacco trade, ferry, and post office sustained the town, yet it never prospered, and in 1825 the town lots were auctioned off. Boonesborough remained quiet until 1909, when Dr. David J. Williams built a resort there. For more than forty years, visitors came for the sand beach and sulfur springs. The Daughters of the American Revolution recognized the importance of the Fort Boonesborough site by erecting the Pioneer Monument in 1907. In the 1930s, a federal movement began to recognize and preserve pioneer-era sites. The Commonwealth of Kentucky acquired the former resort property in 1963, and Fort Boonesborough State Park was dedicated two years later. In 1974, a new Fort Boonesborough was built on the heights above the original site for the education and enjoyment of visitors, near where Daniel Boone and other settlers had once sought refuge.