Drive-about Finds

 

With social distancing we have been going on drives to see our state. Yesterday we went to Greenbush KS to see the historic church and the remains of St Aloysius church. This is an interesting site that we just happened to find a couple of years ago and decided to come back and see it. There is also the historic church built before this one on site also and a walk . Interesting place.

Our Journey To See History Over The Last Few Months

It has been awhile since I have posted anything but that is going to change. I had debated on shutting this blog down since I hadn't kept up with it lately and just didn't think it was of interest to anyone but me. Then I listened to rootstech livestream and they talked about the importance of  a journal and leaving the written word for our family to have, so I decided if for no other reason I will try to keep this blog going. It will be a journal of our trips, my thoughts and what is going on. I will still write a few devotions also along the way and maybe even share some of my poems from my booklet I have copyrighted and sent to the Library of Congress. We will see, but I sure would like to know if anyone is following along with me here on this blog. Just leave a comment or something so I know you are there.

My husband Mike and I have been doing what I like to call Journey's To See History and Find Ancestors. We have been traveling on Historic RT 66 in Missouri, Kansas and a small part of Oklahoma. Traveling the back roads and finding ghost towns along are journey has been interesting. We have found places we never new existed and yet wish we had found them sooner. It has been so much fun to go along to see things in the surrounding area going for a day or two. We have visited places our ancestors lived as well as did cemetery sleuthing of their final resting places. We have taken pictures of old buildings, some in places that our ancestors lived and would have seen when they were live, as well as courthouses, parks and the road we are traveling on. It has been a wonderful journey but it isn't done yet. We try to at least once a month if not once a week go on our journey to see history or find ancestors and their stomping grounds. I hope you enjoy traveling with us through pictures and comments and if you have any suggestions of places to see leave a comment.

I am sharing some of our earlier trips in pictures here today and will try to once a week share what we have been seeing.

Today is some of our first journeys when we went on. In July 2016 we went to Baxter Springs KS and drove the RT 66 through there. We went to the museum also which if you ever get a chance to do it is a wonderful museum, probably one of the best little museums I have been too.


We drove RT 66 from Baxter Springs KS to Miami OK.



This is an old RT 66 filling station that is now a RT 66 Museum

 Fort Blair Baxter Spring KS Where the Baxter Springs Massacre happened Oct 6, 1863

 National Cemetery Plot # 2 in Baxter Springs KS

 A few of the many displays at the Baxter Springs KS Museum

Downtown Baxter Springs KS
Downtown Miami OK and RT 66 Sign over road

I will continue to catch you up on our Journey's To See History in the next few days.

Our Journey To See History and Find Ancestors Little House on the Prairie

As promised here is our next installment of Our Journey To See History and Find Ancestors. This time we decided to go and see the Little House on the Prairie Museum Site outside Independence KS. As a young girl I loved the Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder so it is only fitting to want to see the site that the book talked about. We had been out to see it many years ago and really at that time there wasn't much there so we weren't sure what to expect. We knew no matter what was there that we would enjoy the car ride. It turned out that it is a nice outing and we enjoyed the trip.

 The Little House on the Prairie site is outside of Independence KS on County Road 3000.   You drive right up to it and start you adventure back to the time of Charles and Caroline Ingalls. The Ingalls family lived here from 1869-1871 and in 1870 Carrie Ingalls was born here.   As I stood  and looked at the cabin and the land behind the cabin I could just picture it the way Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about it in her book. The cabin they say is built by the description in the book and is a good replica of the cabin the Ingalls lived in while here.                    
Here are some of the pictures we took while there.

This is the cabin, post office and one room school house on the site.

This is the hand dug well that Charles Ingalls dug 

The cabin from the front

Cabin from back with chimney

 door to enter the cabin

Inside the cabin look at that bed

The other side of the cabin

This is the Sunny Side School that was moved here 

Inside the one room school

The Wayside Post office that was moved to this sit

Step right up to the window or get your mail from the box

The mail slots in the post office



This is a real treat and a step back into time when the prairie was open and the Ingalls family lived here. This was worth the drive to see. It makes me want to read the books again and to go see the other Ingalls sites.

If you would like to learn more about this site check out their web page at
http://www.littlehouseontheprairiemuseum.com/
They are open Apr. - Oct
Mon. - Sun. 10am-5pm

UNTIL NEXT TIME:
JOURNEY ON!

Our Journey To See History and Find Ancestors

My husband and I have decided we need to start seeing and visiting historic places in our surrounding states. We have found places that we never knew were there so once a week  I will be posting a few pictures and let you know where we have explored in Our Journey To See History and Find Ancestors along the way.

I love  history and in fact got a AA in Liberal Arts for history many moons ago. I am intrigued and love old buildings and sleuthing through cemeteries. People have told me I am weird but I can just imagine life happening in these buildings and what stories they hold. I sleuth through cemeteries hunting family and ancestors. We take time to stop and read inscriptions on headstones and to find veterans buried in the different cemeteries. I am lucky that my husband enjoys this journey too.

At the end of May we started this journey  and we are going to some interesting fun places that  only took one day to drive to see. The first was a day trip to we took to see the Hollenberg Pony Express Station in Hanover, KS.

Front of Hollenberg Station

Side View of station

Hollenberg Station from front

Hollenberg station behind the visitors center the back side of the station

Hollenberg Station Visitor Center

Sign of the Trails and roads that ran at Hollenberg Station


Some of the Room displays inside the Hollenberg Station

I always thought this was just used for pony express but it was a stop over station for the stage. Originally it was the home of Hollenberg's that was a place emigrants could get supplies. It is well worth the ride to see this historic site. The visitors center has some nice displays and tells of the archaeological dig that was done on the site. Nice little museum gift shop too for souvenirs of your trip.It is part of the National Historic Parks system and you can find information on their site about the station by checking here
https://www.nps.gov/poex/planyourvisit/site4.htm

or you can find pictures and info on the Kansas travel site too
http://www.kansastravel.org/hollenbergstation.htm

It is open Wed.- Sat. May- October and costs $3.00 for adults and $1.00 for students with children 5 and under free. I hope you will check into this place and plan your trip to see it.

We also to time to drive pass the Pony Express Barn in Marysville, KS. This is the original Pony Express Home Station Number 1 1859 that is what these plaques say.

On our trip to see the Hollenberg Station we also took time to go through the Marshall County Museum which is located in the old Marshall County Courthouse. The old courthouse building is beautiful and unique in its architecture.

 Old Marshall County Courthouse from a distance

 Old Marshall County Courthouse Museum from across the street

 Look at those wonderful pillars at the entrance of the Old Marshall County Courthouse Museum.

They have used the different rooms in the courthouse to tell the story of Marshall County KS. Here are some of the things you will see in the museum.

Old organ love how decorative it is

Entrance into the museum

One of the courtrooms left like it would have been when used

Old printing

Dr's office

Vintage hats

Vintage Wedding dress

When we were driving around Marysville we ran upon the city park and there they have an old school house, a sod house, an old train depot and a train. It is all from Marshall County.

Door into sod house

Front of sod house

This is the one room Bommer School House in the city park

This is the Beattie Train Depot in the city park

Union Pacific Train at city park

Plate on the side of the train



As we were leaving Marysville KS and our drive through town we happened upon this

105mm Howitzer on display.

There is so much more to see in Marshall County KS that I am sure we will be making a trip back to the county soon. This was a good day trip and we enjoyed all the sites we saw. It is interesting to note that the downtown area of Marysville KS still has a brick road. 

We also enjoyed eating in at Penny's Diner while we were there. Was good food and reasonably priced as well as nostalgic.

Counter in Penny's Diner

Mike ordering at Penny's Dinner

Me ordering and concentrating on what to eat at Penny's Diner

All in all we had a wonderful full day on our Journey to See History and Find Ancestors. Our Next stop was Little House on The Prairie Site in Independence,KS. Hope you enjoyed going with us on our Journey.

Until Next Time 

JOURNEY ON