Pioneer Village & Fort Kearney
📍 Minden · Fort Kearney, NE
Day 12 started at the Pioneer Village Museum — an eclectic collection of practically anything you could think of, with different town buildings arranged around a square.
The Boat: Valhalla
Let’s start with some of the museum pieces. A wooden boat — loved the name. 😉
Pioneer Delivery Cart
A wagon used to deliver goods around town.
Limestone Posts
I found this explanation of how they created limestone pillars.
Checkout the Display Case
Check out the contents of the case. Bottom right corner…
The Schoolhouse
In the schoolhouse I found this interesting letter and some blackboard work. The author of the letter went on to found a large glass company.
Uranium Glass
Looking through a house full of glass and dinnerware, I loved these. The first green set is uranium glass — didn’t know this existed. They have a light you can switch on and it illuminates the glass. So what happened if one ate off these serving dishes for years…
Banner Quilt
This quilt is a pattern I haven’t seen before. If you collect banners…
Early Vision Test
One of the first tests for poor vision. You turn the wheel and look through the spectacles one at a time.
Fort Kearney
After the Pioneer Village we drove to Fort Kearney.
Map of the fort, a soldier’s daily schedule, and the rules they were expected to follow:
Emigrants would stop here before continuing on to the Oregon or Mormon Trail. They could make wagon repairs, and smaller groups would queue up to form a larger party — safety in numbers as the trail became more dangerous and Native resistance grew.
Check out this collection — and look for the note about identifying the items:
Ammunition was stored underground:
One from Yesterday
Something I meant to include yesterday but forgot — we saw corn being loaded into a truck for transport. I couldn’t get the photo fast enough, so Google helped find one that matches what I remember.
“The footsteps of a pioneer become ultimately the highway of a nation.”
— Ameen Rihani