Sterling offers up a rest area which is a traditional stopping point for us on our way to/from Michigan/Colorado. It has big clean bathrooms, a room filled with travel info (and, pre-covid, cookies and coffee), a dog run area, an RV dump station, and just across the street to the west a pond with a roughly mile-long trail around it – great for stretching Taz’s and my legs (and when we were heading east on this trip, was hosting a wedding!). Also, just across the street to the south, is the Overland Trail Museum which, in our bazillions of trips through here, we had never visited. This trip, we took care of that! It is quite an amazing museum – so much work and devotion has gone into it. Per their website:
The museum was named after the Overland trail stage route that was a branch of the Oregon Trail in Nebraska. The Overland Trail followed the south bank of the South Platte River through northeastern Colorado. It is said that the Overland Trail was the heaviest traveled road in America, maybe even in the world between 1862 to 1868. The museum was opened in 1936 in the original building, which was made of native rock and designed after the early trading forts. In the past 65 years much has been added, not only to the structure, but to the collections which have been donated by local citizens.
The village behind the main structure has several buildings from pre-1915; The Stoney Buttes one-room schoolhouse, the Evangelical Lutheran Concordia Church, the Dailey Cash Store, and the granary barn (which has a fine collection of branding irons, saddles, and other farm and ranch equipment.) In addition, there is a well-equipped blacksmith shop and an extensive array of farm machinery.
The donations of the buildings and everything in those buildings is astounding! Here's just a brief sampling:
Farm equipment through the ages – and paintings (by folks in the Sterling Correctional Facility)…
Conveyences and tools...
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| Yellowstone Park Transportation Company vehicle |
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| Brands of local ranches |
The barbershop – with a big room for men, a small room (torture chamber?) for women, and the opportunity for a bath.
A one-room schoolhouse that was in service into the 1960s. The teacher would have a group of students working at the chalkboard, a group working up in the front of the room and a group working at desks in order to accommodate the number of students at the school.
The “Cash” store – a combination general store (rope stored under the floor to save space), Post Office, and lunch counter – all handled by one woman!
The main building was also chock full of interesting information and items.
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| Miniature model of a sugar beet factory |
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| Centennial quilt made by Sterling quilters |
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| Handmade chair |
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| A powerful thought-provoking exhibit about hardships prior to electricity |
Maps!
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| 1845-1866 |
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| Historic Trails |
The Overland Trail Museum - well worth a visit, no matter which way the wind is blowing!
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