28 December 2010 LeisureGroupTravel.com

Tour groups cruising through theheart of Nebraska don’t have tostray far from the superhighway

to get a taste of early life on the prairie.In fact, one attraction actually bridgesInterstate 80.

Meandering 455 miles betweenOmaha and the Wyoming border, thistranscontinental corridor follows theroute taken by 19th century settlers incovered wagons as they trekked west-ward on the Oregon, California andMormon trails. Pony Express riders,stagecoaches, steam locomotives andautomobile drivers on the LincolnHighway (America’s first cross-countryroad) also followed the path, much ofit paralleling the Platte River.

In the same pioneering spirit,today’s travelers can blaze their owntrail across the Great Plains, sampling anumber of historical places a short hopfrom I-80 exits.

NEBRASKA’SFRONTIER TRAILS

JUST OFF INTERSTATE 80, GROUP-FRIENDLY ATTRACTIONS

on location: midwest � randy mink

Take a journey back in time at the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (left) and Great Platte River Road Archway.

A recreated 1880s street in Ogallala invites visions of the Wild West.

Neb

rask

a D

ED P

hoto

s

Interstate 80 meets the Platte River at Grand Island, homeof the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, a 200-acre liv-ing history complex. In Railroad Town, a village of 60 histor-ical buildings, visitors explore shops, period homes and barnsamong townspeople demonstrating crafts and going abouttheir daily lives. One home is the birthplace of actor HenryFonda. See a multi-media presentation and exhibits aboutNebraska history in the Stuhr Building, designed by noted

architect Edward Durell Stone. American Indian and OldWest artifacts are displayed in Fonner Rotunda. The recon-structed Pawnee earth lodge offers a glimpse into Nebraska’sonly indigenous tribe.

Harold Warp’s Pioneer Village in Minden, southwest ofGrand Island and 12 miles south of I-80, houses one of theworld’s largest collections of Americana. With more than 50,000antiques in 26 buildings, the attraction was started in 1953 by

LeisureGroupTravel.com December 2010 29

Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island is one of the Midwest's most celebrated living history museums.

Frontier days come into focus at the Stuhr Museum's hardware store and Fort Kearny State Historical Park.

BRING ALIVE THE STATE’S COLORFUL PIONEERING PAST

R E D I S C O V E R T H E ROAD TRIP I N N E B R A S K A .

I

Nebraska Department of Economic Development’s Travel and Tourism Division

888-444-1867, Dept. 1LGC

IN NEBRASKA, YOU CAN RECAPTURE THE MAGIC OF ROAD TRIPS PAST.With so many fun places to visit, it’s easy to let loose and relive the good times.

So what are you waiting for?

Warp, the youngest of 12 children ofNorwegian immigrants who grew up onthe Nebraska prairie. He made his for-tune as a plastics manufacturer.

Buildings at Pioneer Village includea sod house, log cabin, Pawnee earthlodge, 1872 railway depot, originalPony Express station and a generalstore stocked with 19th century mer-chandise. Craftspeople demonstrateweaving, spinning and broom making.A collection of 350 antique cars, 20 air-planes and 100 tractors also sweeps vis-itors back to yesteryear, and they can seeexamples of seven generations ofAmerican kitchens since the 1830s. Inthe town of Minden, groups might beable to catch a show at the newly reno-vated 1891 Minden Opera House.

Kearney (pronounced “CAR-nee”)is famous as the location of GreatPlatte River Road Archway, a monu-ment to America’s pioneering spirit andfreedom of mobility. A log bridge span-ning I-80, it offers an entry movie andinteractive exhibits about westward mi-gration—in wagon trains, stagecoaches,cars and trains. Visitors experience abuffalo stampede, a “prairie schooner”journey and a frontier fort. The LincolnHighway exhibit showcases a 1914Model T Ford and 1927 Oldsmobile.

Military history buffs like FortKearny State Historical Park, the siteof a frontier outpost on the OregonTrail that housed a Pony Express andstagecoach station. The recreated stock-ade has a sod blacksmith shop andpowder magazine. The park is a goodspot for viewing the sand hill crane mi-gration in March and early April.Gothenburg, west of Kearney on I-80,is the “Pony Express Capital of Ne-braska,” offering such attractions as the

Sod House Museum and an originalPony Express Station.

Visions of the Old West captivategroups at Buffalo Bill Ranch StateHistorical Park in North Platte. On 16acres of the original ranch of WilliamF. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, visitors can tourthe three-story Victorian home and abarn with faded promotional posters ofCody’s famous Wild West Show, whichbecame an international phenomenonin the late 1800s. The ranch was a rest-

32 December 2010 LeisureGroupTravel.com

TOUR OPTIONS ABOUND IN NEBRASKA TOWNS LIKE

Early forms of transportation are displayed at Harold Warp's Pioneer Village (left) and Cody Park Railroad Museum.

Scout's Rest Ranch in North Platte was the home of Buffalo Bill Cody.

on location: midwest �

LeisureGroupTravel.com December 2010 33

ing place for many of the performersand animals. Check out the park’s smallherd of bison. Another 233 acres of theranch is a state recreation area with pic-nicking, camping and hiking.

Also in North Platte is GoldenSpike Tower and Visitor Center, aneight-story observation tower thatoverlooks Bailey Yard, the “world’slargest rail yard” and focal point of theUnion Pacific Railroad system. Railfans can peruse vintage equipment and

memorabilia at Cody Park RailroadMuseum, located in a park along theNorth Platte River, a site where BillCody staged his first rodeos. NorthPlatte Rail Fest, an annual event inSeptember, made the American BusAssociation’s Top 100 Events in NorthAmerica list for 2011. North Platte’sLincoln County Historical Museumhas artifacts that relate to NativeAmericans and early settlers, and itdocuments the legendary North Platte

Canteen, a World War II hospitalitycenter that served soldiers passingthrough town on the train. Fort CodyTrading Post, at the I-80/Highway 83interchange, bills itself as “Nebraska’slargest souvenir and Western gift store.

The Wild West lives on at FrontStreet and Cowboy Museum, a recre-ated 1880s street that recalls the rowdypast of Ogallala, a cowtown once nick-named the “Gomorrah of the Plains.”On summer nights after watching ashootout on the street, tourists moveindoors for the Crystal Palace Revue, aWestern stage show. The attraction alsohas a restaurant, bar and gift shop.Other sights in Ogallala include BootHill Cemetery, where many cowboyswere buried with their boots on, andMansion on the Hill, one of the finestexamples of Victorian architecture inNebraska.

For modern-day trailblazers in theCornhusker State, Western lore andgood old-fashioned nostalgia await—just off the exit. LGT

Obtain Nebraska

visitor guides

and itineraries –

and contact group-

friendly suppliers

directly – at

leisuregrouptravel.com/instant-info

The Stuhr Museum's one-room schoolhouse and Great Platte River Road Archway provide peeks into Nebraska's past.

GRAND ISLAND, MINDEN, KEARNEY AND NORTH PLATTE

Check out the Pawnee earth lodge at Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer.