Fort Richardson State Park, Historic Site, and Lost Creek Reservoir State Trailway [TX]

Description

Fort Richardson was established in November 1867 and was named in honor of General Israel B. Richardson, who died in the Battle of Antietam during the Civil War. The fort was the northernmost of a line of Federal Forts established after the Civil War. The soldiers arrived in Jacksboro in 1866 with orders to establish a fort at Buffalo Springs, 20 miles north of Jacksboro. Due to unhealthy conditions at Buffalo Springs and the constant Indian raids, the fort was abandoned. The soldiers returned to Jacksboro and eventually received orders to establish a fort on the South Bank of Lost Creek. Expeditions sent from Fort Richardson arrested Indians responsible for the Warren Wagon Train Massacre in 1871 and fought Comanches in Palo Duro Canyon. The Fort was abandoned in May 1878.

The site offers exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Pawnee Bill Ranch [OK]

Description

The Ranch was once the showplace of the world renowned Wild West Show entertainer, Gordon W. "Pawnee Bill" Lillie. Visitors can tour Pawnee Bill and his wife, May's, 14-room mansion, fully furnished with their original belongings. Completed in 1910, the home is filled with Lillie family memorabilia, photographs, original artwork, and more. The Ranch property also houses a museum with exhibits related to Pawnee Bill, the Wild West Shows, and the Pawnees. The 500-acre grounds include the original Ranch blacksmith shop, a 1903 log cabin, a large barn built in 1926 and an Indian Flower Shrine. The Ranch also recreates Pawnee Bill's Original Wild West Show the last three Saturdays in June every year.

The ranch offers exhibits, tours, performances, and educational and recreational events and programs.

Spiro Mounds [OK]

Description

Today, the Spiro site and artifacts are among Oklahoma's richest cultural resources. This archaeological site includes the remains of a village and 11 earthen mounds. Although various groups of people had camped on or near the Spiro area since early prehistoric times, the location did not become a permanent settlement until approximately A.D. 600. Spiro Mounds was renowned in southeastern North America between A.D. 900 and circa 1400, when Spiro's inhabitants developed political, religious, and economic institutions with far-reaching influence on societies from the Plains and the Mississippi Valley to much of what is now the southeastern United States.

The site offers exhibits.

George M. Murrell Home [OK]

Description

When the Cherokees were forced to leave their homes in the East during the "Trail of Tears" in 1838—39, Murrell chose to move with his Cherokee wife's family to the new Nation in the West. In Park Hill, Indian Territory, he established a plantation and built a large frame home similar to those he remembered in Virginia. He called the Greek Revival-style house "Hunter's Home" because of his fondness for the fox hunt.

The home offers tours, workshops, living history demonstrations, and occasional educational and recreational events.

Hueco Tanks State Historic Site [TX]

Description

Hueco Tanks State Historic Site, a 860.3-acre park, was named for the large natural rock basins or "huecos" that have furnished a supply of trapped rainwater to dwellers and travelers in this arid region of west Texas for millennia. A unique legacy of lively and fantastic rock paintings greets the visitor at the "tanks." From Archaic hunters and foragers of thousands of years ago to relatively recent Mescalero Apaches, Native Americans have drawn strange mythological designs and human and animal figures on the rocks of the area. The site's notable pictographs also include more than 200 face designs or "masks" left by the prehistoric Jornada Mogollon culture. Hueco Tanks was the site of the last Indian battle in the county. Apaches, Kiowas, and earlier Indian groups camped here and left behind pictographs telling of their adventures. These tanks also served as watering places for the Butterfield Overland Mail Route.

The site offers exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Bushy Run Battlefield [PA] Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/08/2008 - 13:33
Description

Colonel Henry Bouquet and a force of approximately 400 British soldiers left Carlisle in July to relieve the besieged Fort Pitt and end a series of unchecked attacks against frontier outposts. The opening of western Pennsylvania to settlement was the result of a decisive victory over the Native Americans at the Battle of Bushy Run, August 5th and 6th, 1763.

The site offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site [ND]

Description

Fort Union Trading Post was the most important fur trading post on the upper Missouri from 1828 to 1867. At this post, the Assiniboine, Crow, Cree, Ojibway, Blackfeet, Hidatsa, and other tribes traded buffalo robes and other furs for trade goods such as beads, guns, blankets, knives, cookware, and cloth.

The site offers a short film, exhibits, demonstrations, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Caprock Canyons State Park and Trailway [TX]

Description

The escarpment's scenic canyons were home for Indians of several cultures, including the Folsom culture of more than 10,000 years ago. The region's historic era began when Spanish explorer Coronado traveled across the plains in 1541. After Spanish colonies were established in New Mexico around 1600, two-way trade between Plains Indians and New Mexicans began and gradually increased. The Plains Apache acquired horses and became proficient buffalo hunters. They were displaced by the Comanche, who arrived in the early 1700s and dominated northwestern Texas, until they were finally subdued in the 1870s. During the Comanche reign, trade prospered and New Mexican buffalo hunters, known as ciboleros, and traders, known as Comancheros, were frequent visitors to this area. Las Lenguas Creek, a few miles south of the park, was a major trade area, and a site excavated on Quitaque Creek has produced artifacts indicating that it may have been a cibolero camp.

The park offers tours and educational and recreational events and programs.

Fort Leaton State Historic Site [TX]

Description

Fort Leaton State Historic Site consists of 23.4 acres, five of which are the site of a pioneer trading post. In 1848, Ben Leaton built a fortified adobe trading post known as Fort Leaton. He dominated border trade with the Apache and Comanche Indians before he died in 1851.

The park is day-use only and offers picnicking areas, guided tours, plus exhibits on the history from 15th century, natural history, and archaeological history of the area. The site serves for historical study activities.