Wamego's Attractions

The main street of Wamego

The city of Wamego, Kansas is not only a wonderful place to live.  It also has many reasons for visitors to be attracted to the city.  (See "Yellow Brick Road in KS," 1-28-2016; "A Visit to the World's Fair Inspires a Theater," 2-14-2016; "A Theater for Wamego," 2-21-2016 in the Blog Archives.)  The photograph at left shows the busy downtown and some of the store fronts that welcome visitors.

Hyeon jung Kim

The paintings of Sienna Clark wrap around one corner

Last week's blog mentioned the gallary located on the main floor of The Columbian Theatre.  When we visited, the paintings of Sienna Clark and Hyeon jung Kim were on display.  The mission statement of The Columbian Artist Group is "an organization of creative like-minded individuals dedicated to fostering the artistic growth and evolution of its members and promoting their talents."  The Columbian Theatre provides a large, well-lit environment to display a rotating gallery of members' work.  You may visit colunbianartist.weebly.com to read more.

Friendship House

We visited Wamego on Monday, not the best day, since some attractions and restaurants are closed on that day.  However, we enjoyed a pleasant lunch at the Friendship House Restaurant and Bakery pictured at left.  If you look closely, you can see the Yellow Brick Road that led us from the main street to the restaurant.

The Oregon Trail cuts across the northeast corner of Kansas, and deep ruts from the wagon wheels of settlers headed from the eastern part of the United States to California and states in between can still be found just northeast of Wamego.

Fortunately, we noticed the Wamego City Park, a beautiful park with an impressive train, lots of room, a mini prairie town with restored buildings, and most impressive of all, the Old Dutch Mill.

Wamego's Old Dutch Mill

The Mill was built in 1879 about 12 miles north of Wamego by a Dutch immigrant.  It took 35 teams and wagons when it was moved into Wamego in 1925 after first being dismantled--every stone numbered to enable it to be rebuilt just as it had been originally.  It is 25 feet in diameter and 40 feet high, and over the window of the mill is a bust of Ceres, the Goddess of Grain.

As this blog is being written in 2016, plans are underway for the celebration of Wamego's 150th Anniversary!  Also, Wamego is known for having one of the best 4th of July displays around.  Last year's display may be seen on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuKrLVMXDzO.

I know that many of you who follow Kansas State Football in Manhattan, as well as those of you who follow Kansas University basketball in Lawrence, drive I-70 regularly, and a side-trip to Wamego would make a delightful break in your trip.  For those of you who aren't often in that part of Kansas, maybe you should consider visiting some of the attractions I have described in recent posts.

This is our last blog about Wamego, and next week we travel down the road to a surprising historic site that is off the busy highway but definitely worth reading about.  You won't want to miss it!