Advertisement
Published: September 14th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Buffalo Bill Historical Center
The main entrance to the five inner museums. So I have given up hope that we will actually get the blog caught up with where we currently are. After leaving the Northeast Entrance of Yellowstone on Wed. Sept. 3rd we took Highway 296 up into Montana for a bit and then south to 120 (Chief Joseph Scenic Highway) into Cody, Wyoming. We arrived around 9pm and immediately searched for a campsite. Not knowing the area, we took the first one we could find. It happened to be an RV Park, but the owner was nice and let us use a site to sleep in our car at a reduced rate. Besides visiting the town for its name, the second reason we were here was for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center (as we found out about from my grandpa), the third reason was to get an oil change. We took care of reason 3 first on Thursday morning. After the Pacifica was freshly oiled and vacuumed we were off to accomplish reason 2 of the visit. Often called the Smithsonian of the West, the Historical Center is the home to 5 museums in one huge building. In the order that we visited, the museums are the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum,
Buffalo Bill Cody Museum
This timeline drove me crazy.The organization of it jumped all over and up and down. I gave up but Cody learned all about Buffalo Bill. Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Cody Firearms Museum, Plains Indian Museum, and the Draper Museum of Natural History. Luckily, the entrance is good for 2 days, which we would need in order to visit them all.
The Buffalo Bill Museum is filled with all things Buffalo Bill, from his clothes to toys, guns to posters. Buffalo Bill kept everything, which came in handy for building a museum about his life. We figured since the center was named for him it was a fitting place to begin. The opening room had a timeline that followed the progression of Buffalo Bill's life, with corresponding timelines outlining events in history. As has been the case for most of the trip, I started to read it but ended up skimming and moving on. Cody, however, being the patient one that he is, read the entire timeline (therefore, he will have to fill you in on the details, I just get the general ideas). I did recall that BB left home early, around 15, to venture out west to find his share in the California Gold Rush. He ended up being a little late and didn't find much. His father died early in BB's
Buffalo Bill Cody Museum
Buffalo Bill kept everything (which was evidenced by the massive size of the museum), which included his Derringers. life (of a stab wound, they never expanded on the circumstances) so BB had various jobs at a young age to help support the family, like bullwhacker, who is the one that puts the yoke on the oxen. Soon he joined the pony express as a letter carrier, making the longest single ride on record, at 350 miles and 21 hours (straight!). Later he fought in the Civil War, joined the 7th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, and then moved on to the 5th US Cavalry as a scout, eventually becoming Chief of Scouts, where he rescued a troop led by Wild Bill Hickok. He also won the Medal of Honor and, with Gen Custer, guided the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia on a "wild west" hunt. He later started his Wild West Show, which ran for many years and toured the world many times, eventually ending bankrupt and ruined in Denver, CO, where he died. He was buried (entombed is probably more accurate) on top of Lookout Mountain after a highly publicized and mournful funeral.
After a lunch of chili and a cheeseburger, we visited the Whitney Gallery of Western Art. They arranged the gallery in chronological order, from earliest
Buffalo Bill Cody Museum
Buffalo Bill's pony express saddle and pack. to most recent works. The had a great Remington exhibit, where, in addition to displaying many of his works, they also recreated his New York Studio using any of his personal effects. They apparently had re-enactors who gave presentations in the studio, but we missed those. It still was really interesting to see the photos of the studio and to compare them to the recreated room. It was almost dead on. Cody (Cranson, not Wyoming) and I both were surprised that Remington, being the famous western artist that he is, actually only lived out west for one year before returning to New York to create all his work. He surrounded himself with western artifacts, in order to create the art. He never actually lived the lifestyle. The other large exhibit was that of artist Charles M. Russell, who was the real deal cowboy rancher. They had a nice collection of his personal letters, that I enjoyed due to the fact that he always illustrated all of his correspondence (they actually were more art than writing). They had a really nice balance between wall art and sculptures, and we were allowed to take pictures of all of it!
After this
we decided to swing by the Cody Gun Museum (this is not in reference to Mr. Cranson's biceps) for a quick trip through. We were not prepared for the 2700 rifles, pistols, and other miscellaneous weaponry that we found there. It is really indescribable. They had guns from every year, make, model, war, issue, country, gauge, etc. You name it, they had three. So, needless to say, we didn't get through them all, but we did see a lot. I focused on the Civil War issued rifles, just for you, Grandpa. And then I thought about how much you would be ready to move on, Grandma L. 😊 Like always, my attention span waned early, and I went to the gift shop. Cody stayed a lot longer. The museum was open until 8pm, and we were fast approaching that time. It was at this point we realized that we needed to stay in town one more night. Because the previous night worked just fine at the RV park we decided to just go back, after our gourmet dinner of Taco John's (ole!).
Friday, Sept. 5th we got up and went straight back to the Historical Center. We had the
Plains Indian Museum and the Natural History Museum to go. We also hoped to get back to the Firearms Museum to see the basement where another 1200 guns were stored. The Plains Indian Museum was a nice arrangement of both ancient and modern Indian artifacts. Like the others is was set up chronologically, with everything from teepees to buffalo headdresses. Many of the items displayed the intricate beadwork of the Plains tribes. They also had various re-creations of housing used by the Indians that you could enter, such as the Mandan huts and the cabins that the Indians were forced to live in once sent to reservations. There were some really amazing examples of the clothing and weapons of the Indians. Some of the beadwork and quillwork was very impressive and quite beautiful. There was also a short movie/presentation on the life of the Plains Indians as they lived throughout the seasons. From the Indian Museum, we went to the Natural History section, and saw pictures of animals and geology native to the area, most of which we had already been exposed to in Yellowstone. From there, we decided that it would probably be best to leave before we got
Buffalo Bill Cody Museum
BB's civil war equipment. Does any of it look familiar Grandpa? any more behind in our schedule. So we headed out of town on I-14, through the Big Horn Mountains, on to Rapid City, South Dakota and Mount Rushmore. Of course, we failed to accomplish the most important task while there. We still do not have a picture of Cody in front of the "Cody" sign.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.204s; Tpl: 0.024s; cc: 14; qc: 67; dbt: 0.0734s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb