After a hot and WINDY day, we are blessed with a beautiful sunset.
Kansas Sunset
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Lark Inn at Cottonwood Falls, KS
Donna (my sister-in-law) and I had a project to do and we decided to meet in Cottonwood Falls, KS. We were able to complete our task in this wonderful home that was located 2 houses away from the historic courthouse. Kris and Pat Larkin who operate the Lark Inn have numerous homes around Cottonwood Falls and Strong City. Wylie and my two nights stay at the Lark Inn on Elm was so enjoyable and we loved having Donna with us for the day.
Be sure to visit the Lark Inn website and pick your favorite home and book it. You will enjoy the time spent in the beautiful Flint Hills, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, shopping and dining in Cottonwood Falls and of course your stay at the Lark Inn, where they make you feel so welcome. I plan on going again!!
Historic Cottonwood Falls Courthouse
Tallgrass prairie once covered 170 million acres of North America, today only 4% remains, mostly here in the Flint Hills of Kansas.
Dunlap, Morris County, KS
In March of 1874 a post office was established in Hillsborough, the next month it was renamed Dunlap after Joseph Dunlap, an Indian agent for the Kaw tribe.
Benjamin “Pap” Singleton chose Dunlap for his second Singleton Colony, as home for freedmen who had come from Tennessee because of available land under the Homestead Act. Hundreds of Exodusters arrived in Dunlap. The Presbyterian Church founded the Freedman Academy of KS to provide education to the settlers, however the school closed it’s door in the 1890’s.
Population in 1910 was over 300, during this time there was a blacksmith shop, hardware, grocery store, ice cream parlor, flour mill, butter and cheese factors, restaurant, bank, hotel, and numerous churches.
When the exodusters first arrived the white community resented them and they had separate schools, churches and cemeteries. However by 1930, the white and blacks were no longer segregated and lived together peacefully in the beautiful Neosho River Valley.
Dunlap is currently home to approximately 30 people.
Main Street
Native stone sidewalk along Main Street
White Cemetery Dunlap, KS
Black Cemetery about 1 mile north of the white cemetery
Many of the headstones were native stones with no inscription on them
Landon Harness, last resident to be buried in Dunlap Black Cemetery
On a road that is seldom traveled I came across this monument. A beautiful tribute to a freedman who homestead this land. Here is a link about Mr. Davis and his monument to his family.
http://www.robinvanauken.com/a-monument-to-exodusters/
Massive native stone cornerpost
The ground is so rocky that they drilled holes in the rocks to set the posts.
One of the largest Cottonwood Trees in Kansas
This is one of the largest cottonwood trees in Kansas. It is located in El Dorado. Pioneers used the cottonwood as building materials for cabins. It was not the preferred wood as it is soft, weak, and porous. It was chosen only when other sturdy woods were unavailable. They reproduce from the “cotton” that the Kansas winds blow around like snow in the early summer. Cottonwoods grow rapidly in ideal conditions, reaching 100 feet in 15 years.
Where’s Wylie????? (Look closely)
Can quite reach far enough. I love those tree huggers:)
New Rooster
On my way back from Burns yesterday, I stopped at a shop in Marion, KS. TC’s WhatNotShop (look them up on Facebook) is a unique shop located on Main Street that is stuffed full of so many interesting items. A combination of new and used items. They carry KU and KState items that you don’t see at the chain stores. Lots of hand crafted items too. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bring home a new rooster. When I placed it by the chicken run, he scared all my chickens!! I love Yard ART
Zenias 
Burns, Marion County, KS
Burns is located in Marion County, KS It was originally named St. Francis, but they realized that name was already taken so they changed the name to be the same as a nearby Burns train station. The Burns Union School was built in 1904, the high school closed in 1965, the grade school and junior high closed in 1997. The population of Burns is 228. There are numerous business including churches and the Burns Cafe and Bakery which is open Friday and Saturday.
God Bless You Mom
My dear precious mother passed away August 7, 2015. The most loving Wife, Mother, Grandma, and Great Grandma. The world is a better place because of you.
Rest In Peace in the beautiful Flint Hill of Kansas. Our hearts are breaking now but we know we
Will See You Again
God Bless You
Watch over US
I Love you
Wilson, Hitshmann, and Black Wolf, KS
Wilson, KS Grain Elevator
Hitshmann, KS Ghost Town
Ghost Town
Black Wolf, KS Ghost Town
Black Wolf is situated along the north bank of the Smoky Hill River in Ellsworth County, KS. It started as a station along the Union Pacific Railroad in the late 1870’s. The Black Wolf coal mines were located 2 miles south of town and supplied the local people with coal for several decades. There was a hotel, grain elevator, lumber yard, mercantile, a lime kiln, post office and school.Sitting along the Smoky Hill River, Black Wolf endured numerous floods, the worse was in 1938. In 1952 The UP depot closed, the post office closed in 1953. All the remains in Black Wolf are a couple of residential homes, old foundations, a grain elevator and the still active tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad.
Farmer Creek
It has been so HOT and with little rain there is no water running thru the creek, but the flowers are so pretty this summer.
Black-eyed Susan (rudbeckia)
Spiderwort
They grow in the wild and are edible and nutritious. I haven’t tried them (and probably not going to).
Vitex (angus-castus) or Chaste Tree
Joe-Pye Weed
All parts of this plant are edible. Joe Pye is said to be named after a Native American, Jopi who used this plant to cure typhus in the 1800’s.
Rock City
Our grandchildren, Camryn and Caden, from Missouri spent a week with us. One of the places we visited was Rock City, which is located south west of Minneapolis, KS.
The rocks are remarkable because of their great size and large number. The spheriod masses are know as concretions. Rock City has 200 sandstone concretions covering the area of approximately two football fields. There are others throughout the world, but none are as large as they are at Rock City.
Farmer Days 