This year’s Gathering of Descendants will include members of five families with local 18th century lineage and several new books from area authors.

The fifth annual event will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 15, at the reconstructed Fort Boonesborough fort. The gathering is included with admission to the fort site.

This year, there will be representatives of the Boone Society and the Callaway, Chenault, French and Kincaid families on site to help with genealogical research, said Elizabeth Chalfant of the Fort Boonesborough Foundation.

“They are families that have done their genealogy back through 1775,” Chalfant said. “They’ll be sharing with the public what they learned.”

Ten other groups including the Bluegrass Heritage Museum and the Fort Boonesborough Foundation will be on hand as well with information.

“They are all volunteering their time as a donation to the foundation,” she said. “To have that many coming in a special treat.”

The gathering will also include the release and signing of retired University of Kentucky archaeologist Nancy O’Malley’s latest book “Boonesborough Unearthed: Frontier Archaeology at a Revolutionary Fort.” According to the foundation, the book pulls together 30 years of research into the fort, the people who lived there and dashed hopes of turning it into a 14th colony.

O’Malley will speak at the original fort site twice, at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and will be available throughout the day to sign copies.

“The publisher has assured me I’ll have 200 copies,” Chalfant said.

Harry Enoch and Anne Crabb will also be on hand to sign copies of their new book, “African Americans at Fort Boonesborough,” as will other authors including George Chalfant, Randell Jones, Joan Mayer and Neal Hammon.

There will be shuttles to the original fort site and to the lower parking lot at the fort, just inside Madison County on Kentucky 627.

For more information, go to www.fortboonesboroughlivinghistory.org.