8/7/14 - Fort Robinson State Park

We'd gone to Nebraska to visit Agate Fossil Beds NM, and stayed at one of the campgrounds in Fort Robinson State Park. Fort Robinson was an active military post from 1874 to 1948.  It was established as a protective post for an Indian Agency, but it had a long heritage.

Now it has more activities than I've ever seen at a state park!  They've turned a lot of the old Army buildings into lodging so you can stay in Officers' Quarters or Enlisted Men's Barracks.  There's a restaurant, store, several museums, a pool.  You can go on trail rides, jeep rides, kayak rides, stagecoach or horse-drawn tours.  They have cookouts and rodeos and a theater.  Talk about something for everyone!  Some of it's kind of pricey; some is pretty reasonable.

The 1909 Enlisted Men's Barracks is where we checked in for our campsite in the Red Cloud Campground.

Post Headquarters is now a Nebraska State Historical Association museum called the History Center.  

The 1887 Adobe Officers' Quarters are duplexes (and can be rented for larger families.) One of them is set up as a museum, so you can go in and see how a Calvary officer and family lived.  Everything inside is period.

All the 1909 brick Officers' Quarters have been remodeled for lodging.  They're all along Officers' Row, all, that is, except for the gaping space where the Post Commander's Quarters were.  I don't know what happened to it, or when.  This is the first time I've ever been to Nebraska.

 

 

They refurbished the Buffalo Soldiers' Barracks as a meeting hall.

The Veterinary Hospital is a museum too.  Not much there, and not many people were checking it out.  (I counted 2--George and me.)  The woman who was attendant must have been bored to tears!  

They reconstructed the 1874 log Calvary Barracks, and--guess what!  It's another museum!

                       

There are Nebraska Historical Markers all over the place.  Wandering around the grounds is a walking history lesson.

                                   

They also have a scenic drive through Smiley Canyon, a small buffalo herd and a big herd of Texas longhorns. As expected, we didn't see the buffalo, but the longhorns were near the highway.  They're just big cows, so I didn't get too excited.

I think I used most of my Flickr pictures here, but there might be a few more.  Ft Robinson State Park