Teterville

Teterville, KS - just a name, no buildings or people - where the hills & valleys of the high plains open up to an incredible vista ... and not a soul around as far as the eye can see.

The restless prairie wind blows through the scattered remains of a once bustling community, Teterville. Built during the oil boom of the 1920's, it once had a population of over 600 with two General Stores, a Post Office, and an Elementary School. Typical of these oil boom towns, it contained mainly "shot-gun" houses which in many cases sprang up over night . In this case, "over-night" is not just a figure of speech. Lumber was sometimes stolen from nearby oil derricks, and this made carpentry by cover of darkness a necessity. Indoor plumbing was generally nonexistent, and drinkable water had to be hauled in from Madison. Such primitive conditions were endured by the workers and their families in exchange for the good paying jobs of the oil fields. The Flint Hills had never before, and have never since witness such a rapid influx of both people and wealth.

The wealth, jobs and the town of Teterville itself lasted only as long as there was oil to pump. Today, this oil heating tank rusts in repose; a silent reminder of busier days on this windswept hill. Where once children played and workmen worked, cows now graze disturbed only by the occasional visitor to Teter Rock.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Beaumont Hotel

The Beaumont Hotel is a perfect weekend getaway or a strategic stopover on a cross-country hop. Located at 11651 SE Main, in Beaumont, KS 67012, the Beaumont is a fly-in hotel and restaurant complete with 2,600 ft. grass airstrip serving pilots and hunters. 11 rooms, rangs- $79 to $149.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Peabody Museum Historical Complex

The Peabody Museum Historical Complex includes the Museum, the Peabody Printing Museum, the Morgan House, and the Carnegie Library.

The Complex is located at 104 E. Division, in Peabody, KS 66866; call (620) 983-2174 for more information.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Prairie Fire Lodge & Ranch

Check out the Prairie Fire Lodge & Ranch, on Mill Creek, east of Maple Hill, KS, just north of I-70 between Topeka and Manhattan.From their website: "Enjoy wide open spaces, the endless blue sky and see for yourself the millions of stars that shine at night. Take a walk along a shady creek, watch the wildlife or try your hand at sporting clays, archery, fishing, hiking, and much, much more!" A very special place.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Alcove Spring

Alcove Spring is considered one of the most significant historic sites on the Oregon Trail in Kansas. 223-acre park with a self-guided walking tour. Interpretive exhibits of the wagon swales, Independence Crossing, and the spring, which was named by members of the Donner party in 1846.

Located about 6 miles north of Blue Rapids, Kansas. Follow signs from U.S. 77 north of Blue Rapids.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Kansas Civil War Veteran Virtual Cemetery

John A. Jackson, KS Gen Web Civil War Coordinator, has created, as a volunteer, the Kansas Civil War Veteran Virtual Cemetery. It is a wonderful resource and great project. He has visited cemeteries in 33 Kansas counties; photographed the tombstones of Civil War Veterans; located an obituary or bio for each, and created this website!! He currently has a total of over 160 cemeteries included. Enjoy checking it out!!

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Traveling Exhibit moves to Salina

Kansas native Jim Richardson's photographs highlighted the National Geographic's April 2007 issue examination of the beautiful Flint Hills of Kansas. 32 large-scale versions of the photographs featured in the magazine make up a traveling exhibit that has been touring the region, through 2007, now in 2008, and is already booked into 2009.

The exhibit is in Salina from Feb 22 - Mar 30. The complete exhibit schedule is available at kansasflinthills.travel and www. travelks.com

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Mennonite Heritage Museum - Goessel

Visit the Mennonite Heritage Museum next time you are in the far southwestern corner of Marion Co.

Dedicated in 1974, the museum complex was established to preserve the artifacts from early households, farms, schools, churches and the hospital in our Mennonite community.

The museum was erected as a living tribute to the forefathers of the Goessel community who settled this area. It tells the story of the Mennonite families who left Russia for religious freedom in 1874 and chose the Kansas plains for their new home.

The museum complex consists of eight buildings, including the Immigrant House and the Turkey Red Wheat Palace. Six historic buildings from the community have been moved to the museum for preservation and restoration.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Cowboy Jail - Council Grove

Been to a Cowboy Jail lately?


This early day calaboose (jail) was built in 1849. It was said to be the only jail on the Santa Fe Trail at the time.

Desperados, ruffians, robbers and horse thieves all "bunked" here in this early day jail. Nearby attractions, in the same park, include: the Sylvan Park Depot, a private-owned railway station, and the old KATY Depot, built around 1895 and in use until 1957.

Located on East Main Street. [I took the photo, sometime back] One of many historic sites in Council Grove.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Flint Hills Spring Heritage Conference Press Release

Flint Hills News
Flint Hills Tourism Coalition and the Flint Hills Heritage Task Force

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

Contact: Dennis Toll, Manhattan CVB
Address: 501 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, KS 66502
Phone: (785) 776-8829
Fax: (785) 776-0679
e-mail: dennis@manhattan.org
*****************

Flint Hills Heritage Conference set for April 18

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Building on the success of the first Flint Hills Heritage Conference in October in Cottonwood Falls, the Flint Hills Tourism Coalition recently announced it will hold its second heritage conference on Friday, April 18 at the Rock Springs 4-H Center.

The conference, organized by the Flint Hills Heritage Task Force, seeks to bring together residents of the Flint Hills to discuss issues relating to the unique culture, history, and landscape of the famed Kansas Flint Hills. The conference aims to focus on the need to
understand, preserve, and share the story of the Flint Hills.

"Our Heritage Task Force has hand-selected speakers who can answer your questions," said Linda Craghead, executive director of the Flint Hills Coalition. "We hope to answer questions like: What is a Heritage Area? Why should we want to become a National Heritage Area? Who should be involved? How will it affect you? We would like to encourage participation by farmers, ranchers, historians, teachers, members of the tourism industry, chamber of commerce members, elected officials, and anyone else interested in the success of the Kansas Flint Hills Region. This is going to be a great workshop!"

Speakers at the upcoming conference will focus on the role National Heritage Areas have played in promoting local stories around the country. The list of speakers at the conference includes John Cosgrove,president of the Alliance of National Heritage Areas; Sue Pridemore, heritage area partnerships coordinator for the National Park Service's Midwest regional office; Judy Billings, director of the Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau and an instrumental leader in the effort to establish the Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area; Linda Craghead, director of the Flint Hills Tourism Coalition; and Jim Hoy, noted author of Flint Hills cowboy stories and professor of English at Emporia State University.

Cost of registration for the one-day conference is $45 per person, which includes morning and afternoon refreshments and lunch at the Rock Springs 4-H Center. For the latest information or to download a registration form, visit the Flint Hills tourism Web site at
www.KansasFlintHills.travel.

* * *

See You at the Spring Heritage Conference!! ;-)

See

We Kan! - Kansas Sampler Foundation

The Kansas Sampler Foundation now has several important programs. Check out We Kan!
We Kan! is a group of community leaders, volunteers, and supporters striving to make their communities better. Some are seeking new industry for their town, some tourism, but all are looking for ways to improve the energy in their towns. MORE POWER TO THEM ALL!

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

SculptureWalk Winfield - New Project!

SculptureWalk Winfield is an exciting exhibit of outdoor sculptures displayed year-round in downtown Winfield, Kansas by Winfield Main Street. Artists place their sculptures in the program for one year, and all sculptures are aggressively promoted to the public for sale. Artists are eligible to win any one or more of the 10 awards in the Best of Show and People's Choice voting. Awards total $13,500

The SculptureWalk Winfield Team is comprised of the combined efforts of ArtWorks 360, Inc., Winfield Main Street, Winfield Convention and Tourism and volunteers from all walks of life that work on this program all year long.

The SculptureWalk Winfield Guiding Principle - To be the highest quality, most professional, financially strong, artist friendly year-round outdoor sculpture program in Kansas.

SculptureWalk Winfield adds artistic vibrancy to historic downtown and helps to grow the economy by helping to make Winfield a more attractive tourist destination point year round, and a better place to live, work and play.

A great team effort on behalf of the Winfield community!!

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Eureka Community Calendar

Check out the Eureka, Kansas website! It has CURRENT Community Calendar, hour-by-hour, for today and for the week ahead. Really neat!

Also, click on the tab: "About the Foundation" - Active Community Foundations are one of the best ways for our rural communities to accomplish their positive goals - Eureka says: "to bring prosperity to Eureka, Kansas."

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Kansas Cycling News - new blog

Check out the new Kansas Cycling News Blog - all the latest information for Kansas Cyclists! Todays entry has some very interesting data on funding for bicycling in Kansas and neighboring states.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

The Kansas Landscape: Images from Home

"The Kansas Landscape: Images from Home" is the name of the current Art Show at the Strecker-Nelson Gallery, through February 22, 2008, in downtown Manhattan, Kansas. The Strecker-Nelson Gallery is located in scenic downtown Manhattan, upstairs at 406 1/2 Poyntz Avenue. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Gabrielle Leaman Art Show - Junction City

Visit the free Gabrielle Leaman Art Show, featuring the artwork by Gabrielle Leaman, at the Junction City Art Gallery, 107 W 7th St., Junction City, KS 66441, through Feb. 22, 2008.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Henry's Candles, Dexter, Kansas

Henry's Candies on K-15 in Dexter offers a chance to see a candy factory in operation. Demonstrations are given on Sundays at 1:15 p.m. Call (620) 876-5423 to arrange group tours.
Open 7 days a week ^__ 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

1878 Harvey House Museum, Florence

At the age of 15, Fred Harvey left his native England for the United States. Traveling for the railroads over the next 20 years, Mr. Harvey's view was that improvement was needed in the food department. Upon arrival in Kansas in 1870, Mr. Harvey met Charlie Morse, President of the fledgling Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway. For the next century, Fred Harvey's company would bring good food at reasonable prices in clean, elegant restaurants to the traveling public throughout the Southwest. Experience that era now at the Harvey House in Florence.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Oregon Trail Nature Park, Belvue, KS

Oregon Trail Nature Park & Jeffrey Energy Center Wildlife Area, three miles north of Belvue, KS, is a joint venture between Kansas Wildlife and Parks and Kansas Power and Light (now Western Resources). There are three wildlife areas and one nature park located within the property borders of Jeffery Energy Center.Belvue is located in south central Pottawatomie County along U.S. 24. The area is rich in wildlife, such as: White tailed deer, rabbit, squirrel, coyote, raccoon, opossum, prairie chicken, quail, and turkey.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Americus, Lyon County, Kansas

I took this photo in Americus last summer:

Americus and Emporia have interesting intertwining stories, from the early days:

"Prior to the legal organization of the county, the territorial government had laid out the counties, and several attempts had been made to locate a county seat. Americus, because of a larger settlement in and about the town, had succeeded in securing the county seat. Laura FRENCH, in the "History of Lyon County", gives the date as "the autumn of 1858, probably in September". From 1860 to about 1862, the settlers in the vicinity of Emporia tried all manner of strategy to take the county seat away from Americus and bring it to Emporia, which was by this time was growing faster than any of the other towns in the county. Act of the Legislature changed the boundary lines of the county twice in order to gain more votes for the south end of the county. It was finally accomplished when C. V. ESKRIDGE, a resident of Emporia, then in the Legislature, had a resolution passed declaring that all of the votes cast by the settlers in the Indian land, were illegal. This act gave Emporia the county seat, but Americus had the records and refused to give them up.

"George SIMONS told the story of "County Seat Was Moved", in the Topeka Capital, under the date of June 11. 1938. Mr. SIMONS was the printer for C. V. ESKRIDGE, when he as was editor and publisher of the Emporia Republican, and had heard the story of the move, or "steal", many times from the lips of Mr. ESKRIDGE. The story ends in a most amusing episode of how a band of Emporia men "one dark night set out from Emporia on horseback to batter in the doors of the old log courthouse, and steal the records." A tree had fallen across the Neosho River, and in the attempt to cross on the tree, one man fell in, another jumped in after him. He called to the third man "Help me save SODEN", but the third man replied, "SODEN can take care of himself, I'm saving the records." It is said the records still show the water stains. The story, as related by Mr. SIMONS, was verified by many of the old timers in Americus, and is found be a clear picture of the stalwart men and women who made the county a strong unit of Kansas State History. Many of those early settlers are buried in the Americus Cemetery, as well as in the Frost and Fruitland Cemeteries, not far from Americus."

Source: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ksfhgslc/americuscem.html (extracted 10 Jan 08)

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

14th Annual Butler County Student Art Exhibit

Visit the Coutts Memorial Museum of Art in El Dorado, Kansas, February 4-23, 2003, to see the 14th Annual Butler County Student Art Exhibit. Exhibits includes works by students in Kindergarten through 8th grades. The Coutts Museum of Art is at 110 n. Main, phone is 321-1212.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Kansas Flint Hills Traveling Exhibit - 2008 revisited

Kansas native Jim Richardson's photographs highlighted the National Geographic's April 2007 issue examination of the beautiful Flint Hills of Kansas. 32 large-scale versions of the photographs featured in the magazine make up a traveling exhibit that has been touring the region, through 2007, now in 2008, and is already booked into 2009.

The exhibit is in Pratt from Feb 4 - 21. The complete exhibit schedule is available at kansasflinthills.travel and www. travelks.com

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve & the Flint Hills

The farthest east in Kansas and eighth of the 8 Wonders of Kansas , alphabetically, based on a national survey sponsored by the Kansas Sampler Foundation, as announced by the Governor at Kansas Day, the 147th Birthday of Kansas, on Tuesday, 29 Jan 2008, of course, is the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve & the Flint Hills, in Chase County. They represent the Sampler Rural Culture Elements of Geography and History.

The Preserve is the only "national park" in Kansas and is a growing attraction in the heart of the Kansas Flint Hills. Prairies began appearing in the mid-continent from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago and have developed into one of the most complicated and diverse ecosystems in the world.
Tallgrass prairie once covered approximately 170 million acres of North America.

A wide variety of educational programs and tours are offered to help the public learn about the cultural and natural history of this area. To experience more of the Flint Hills drive the 47-miles of the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway on K-177 between Council Grove and Cassoday.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

St. Fidelis Catholic Church (Cathedral of the Plains)

As promised, here is the seventh of the 8 Wonders of Kansas , alphabetically, based on a national survey sponsored by the Kansas Sampler Foundation, as announced by the Governor at Kansas Day, the 147th Birthday of Kansas, on Tuesday, 29 Jan 2008.

St. Fidelis Catholic Church (Cathedral of the Plains) , near Victoria, represents the Sampler Rural Culture Element of Architecture. With a seating capacity of 1,100, St. Fidelis was the largest church west of the Mississippi when it was completed in 1911. It was placed in the National Register of Historic Places on May 14, 1971.

When you make your visit to St. Fidelis, please consider turning off I-70 at K-177 and visit the Kansas Flint Hills, as well.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Monument Rocks & Castle Rock

As promised, here is the sixth of the 8 Wonders of Kansas , alphabetically, based on a national survey sponsored by the Kansas Sampler Foundation, as announced by the Governor at Kansas Day, the 147th Birthday of Kansas, on Tuesday, 29 Jan 2008.

Monument Rocks & Castle Rock, in Gove County, represent the Sampler Rural Culture Element of Geography. The Nature Kansas Castle Rock Drive web site has good directions as well. As you move along I-70, either east or west, please consider a side trip at K-177 into the Kansas Flint Hills!

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Kansas Underground Salt Museum

As promised, here is the fifth of the 8 Wonders of Kansas , alphabetically, based on a national survey sponsored by the Kansas Sampler Foundation, as announced by the Governor at Kansas Day, the 147th Birthday of Kansas, on Tuesday, 29 Jan 2008.

Also in Hutchison, representing the Sampler Rural Culture Elements of Geography, History, and Commerce, the Kansas Underground Salt Museum (their website) showcases the natural treasure, salt, that exist hundreds of feet below the Kansas plains.

This site is just a few miles west of the Kansas Flint Hills, so be sure to stop by either coming or going as you visit the Salt Museum.

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

As promised, here is the fourth of the 8 Wonders of Kansas , alphabetically, based on a national survey sponsored by the Kansas Sampler Foundation, as announced by the Governor at Kansas Day, the 147th Birthday of Kansas, on Tuesday, 29 Jan 2008.

Located just to the west of the Kansas Flint Hills, the Kansas Cosmosphere & Space Center, in Hutchinson, represented the Sampler Rural Culture Elements of History, Geography, and People. Their website has earned a visit - then go see it for yourself - and, of course, check out the nearby Kansas Flint Hills as you are going or coming!

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum

As promised, here is the third of the 8 Wonders of Kansas , alphabetically, based on a national survey sponsored by the Kansas Sampler Foundation, as announced by the Governor at Kansas Day, the 147th Birthday of Kansas, on Tuesday, 29 Jan 2008.

The Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum, in Abilene, in Dickinson County, represents the Sampler Rural Culture Elements of People and History. Be sure to visit their website, as you plan your visit to Abilene. And, be sure to see the rest of the Kansas Flint Hills, when you stop by!

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)

Cheyenne Bottoms/ Quivira National Wildlife Refuge

As promised, here is the second of the 8 Wonders of Kansas , alphabetically, based on a national survey sponsored by the Kansas Sampler Foundation, as announced by the Governor at Kansas Day, the 147th Birthday of Kansas, on Tuesday, 29 Jan 2008.

In Barton and Stafford Counties, the Kansas Wetland Complex of Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge is a vital migratory stop for North American shorebirds. Less than twenty miles apart, a good way to view both is to drive the Wetlands and Wildlife National Scenic Byway.

While you are in the neighborhood, head a few miles east and visit the Kansas Flint Hills, as well!

See you in the Kansas Flint Hills! ;-)