Elmdale is located in Chase County, KS. Some consider it a Ghost Town, but it is still home to about 50 people. Elmdale has been damaged by numerous floods, a major one in 1951.
Bummies was a must stop back in 1980’s to pick up a sandwich before heading into the Flint Hills while hauling equipment to watershed dams.
The school was closed in 1967. It is now a private residence.
Entrance to St. Joseph’s Orphanage that provided a home to children from 1915-1959.
Grotto
Here is a link (Dickinson County Historical Society) to see a photo of the orphanage that was demolished in 1959. All that is left on the site are the stone markers at the entrance, a building and the unique grotto.
Beautiful church and cemetery outside of Herington, KS
St. John’s Lutheran Church
Located along the Santa Fe trail
As I traveled along the Trail, I was amazed at the beauty of the lush grass land of the Flint Hills. I was also thankful that my “buggy” had air conditioning as it was in the upper 90’s.
Lost Springs, KS
Burdick
The Santa Fe trail passed approximately 3 miles north of Burdick. Know as “Six Mile State Station” it was needed on the trail after the station at Diamond Springs was destroyed by Missouri Bushwackers in 1863. Burdick was settled in 1880, located on the Atchinson Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. The line has been removed but the railroad has not abandoned the right of way.
Diamond Springs
Diamond Springs know as the “Diamond of the Plains” along the Santa Fe Trail, due to the prairie fountain that was of high quality water. The spring now rises in a concrete cistern and is piped to a nearby stock tank on the Diamond Spring Ranch.
Continuing south from Diamond Springs is Hymer Station along the abandoned train line
This beautiful bridge did not withstand the flooding this year
My lunch plans were changed as the Ad Astra in Strong City is only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Went to the Grand Central Hotel and Grill in Cottonwood Falls and discovered another wonder place to eat in Small Town Kansas. The rooms in the Hotel are named after local ranches and look very comfortable. Pet friendly too….Wylie!!
Strong City
Cemetery and Church near Holland, KS
Navarre, KS
Woodbine, KS
Pearl, KS
Barn and abandoned farms near Chapman, KS
Enterprise, KS
Patriotic silo near Abilene, KS
Bavaria is an unincorporated town in Saline County, KS located along highway 140. It is named after the state of Bavaria in Germany, where Ernst Hohneck one of the original settlers was from. Barvaria was originally known as Hohneck, he came to this area in 1862. Today just a few people live in the town.
Brookville was a cow town that got its start in 1867 after the railroad reached this area. The town grew quickly as a major cattle shipping point. Numerous businesses that once thrived were 3 hotels, saloons, furniture store, drug store, elevator, livery stable and 2 lumber yards. Today there is a junior/senior high school, numerous churches, and a saloon. The famous Brookville Hotel Restaurant has since relocated to Abilene, KS it is worth a stop for one of their chicken dinners!
Glendale, Saline County, KS
The caves were constructed by Charles Griffee in the Dakota sandstone bluff along the lowlands of the Smoky Hill River in the 1880’s. William and Winfield Faris purchased the land in 1893. The caves were used as a spring house, generator room, living quarters, and for a short time as a school house.
The Beaumont Hotel is located in Beaumont, KS in Butler County, KS. The hotel was built in 1879 as a railroad hotel. Across the street from the hotel is a wooden 1885 Frisco water tower, once used to service steam locomotives, one of the last remaining water tower of its kind in the US. In the 1940’s business men would land their planes on Main Street to check their cattle. The hotel purchased some land on the east side of town in 1953 and put in a grass landing strip. Pilots now taxi up Main Street to park at the bent prop parking lot. Cars must yield to aircraft!
This is a day trip that I will take again. It was such a cloudy, foggy, drizzly day. Just south of Beaumont is the Elk River Wind Project. There are 150 windmills situated on 8,000 acres. I couldn’t see any of them.
I think I will take another road!!! 
A couple of wild horses along the road between Rosalia and Cassoday. There is a herd of 2000 wild horses just to the south of Cassoday.
Matfield Station, Matfield Green, KS is a former railroad bunkhouse that has been converted into a lodge.
Cottonwood Falls, KS
Cottonwood Falls and Strong City, KS are only seperated by a couple of miles. When you are in this area you have to stop at the Ad Astra restaurant. Such a great place!!!!
I went to El Dorado to visit my parents yesterday and instead driving the interstate, took the back roads.
St. John Nepomucene Catholic Church Pilsen, KS
Kansas Snow Man
Ramona, KS
Dillon, KS
Gypsum, KS
This is the kind of road that I like to explore, off the beaten path.
Prairie Flowers
I just found an app for the iphone and will hopefully be able to identify wildflowers, Wildflowers of the Great Plains.
Owl on the chimney
Old chicken coop
Castle Rock, you have no idea what waits for you across this cattle guard and up the road. It never ceases to amaze me how diverse and varied our landscape is across Kansas. When people travel Western Kansas along I-70, most are speeding thru at 80 miles per hour, saying there isn’t anything to see or do in Western Kansas. Slow down, get off the interstate, it’s beautiful. I am posting more pictures than usual, this place really touched my soul.
The chalk was deposited from an ancient inland sea. There are seashells embedden in the rocks, that are so sharp, I had to carry Wylie.
Castle Rock is on private property, the roads are rutted and rugged. Please be respectful.
Wylie, my partner in these adventures, on the way home.
Farmer Days 