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
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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
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Maps!
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| 1845-1866 |
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Historic Trails
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The Overland Trail Museum - well worth a visit, no matter which way the wind is blowing!
