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.

Journey to Explore Kansas

It has been so long since I blogged and trying to get back into blogging about our journey's and other things going on. Since the hubby retired we have been enjoying just hanging out and not being rushed to do anything. We are hoping the weather gets better and we can go on more drives and Journeys to See History and Find Ancestors but for now we are getting out when the weather permits and driving some back roads through Kansas.

In December 2018 we went to see the Marais des Cygnes Massacre site. It is back off the road and looks like you are going into a farm but when you get there it is nice. It tells you about what happened here with signs all along the way.  We enjoyed the history site. The pictures below are a few of the signs there as well as the house and plaque. The ravine picture is looking down to where the massacre happened.

What better way to start the new year than going for a ride. Jan 1 2019 we went for a ride and made this Interesting find, the Gerth Cabin in Greeley KS. Valentin Gerth came from Germany and was one of the first settlers in now Greeley KS. There is evidence  that 11 slaves that John Brown rescued from MO hid under the cabin.  He and his family lived in Greeley until he died in 1913 and is buried in the Greeley Cemetery. If you would like to read about this man and cabin you can go to

http://kansastransportation.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-secrets-of-southeast-kansas-gerth.html

This last weekend we had Spring like weather so we took advantage of it, especially since we had been in due to weather for a week almost, and hit the back roads. We didn't have anywhere in particular that we were headed to but just driving.  We went back roads and ran into the Kansas Oil Museum in El Dorado KS. I also love old buildings and courthouses and  El Dorado is Butler County Kansas County Seat and has a very cool Courthouse. Pictures from there.

The courthouse was constructed in 1909 and was designed by George P Washburn and Sons. In 2002 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Oil Museum shows the history of  20th-century oil industry as well as Butler County KS. On their website it says the museum also serves as the Butler County KS Historical society with a research library. Their webpage is 

http://www.kansasoilmuseum.org

That is it for now. Hoping the weather will get better again and we will go out and enjoy it. 

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!