Along The Trail

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette.

ALONG THE TRAIL

Recently, I met my friend Amy for lunch in Wellsville.

With gas selling at unspeakable prices, I took full advantage of the trip and visited as many towns as I could on the way home.

First though: Wellsville (pop. 1,631). Located in Franklin County, Wellsville’s downtown has several restaurants and taverns, a nice library, and a pharmacy with a classic soda fountain.

Wellsville has produced at least two famous residents. One was the late Elizabeth “Grandma” Layton, who at age 68, took a drawing class and became well known for her contour drawing. Art became her therapy and pulled her out of a 35-year depression. A handful of Grandma Layton’s drawings are on display in the public library.

Also starring from Wellsville is country recording artist Chely Wright. Her song “Single White Female” topped the country charts in 1999.

A few miles north of Wellsville, I connected with U.S. 56, which follows (roughly) the Santa Fe Trail. Near Baldwin City you can see evidence of the trail.

I stopped at the historical marker just off the highway and found several things: Black Jack Park, an 18-acre parcel of virgin prairie, and wagon ruts.

Having grown up along the Santa Fe Trail, it has long been part of my consciousness, but standing alone in those ruts, I could almost hear voices, wagons creaking, horse hooves clomping on the earth.

I photographed the wagon ruts – three big swales in the land – and traipsed gently across the prairie to Black Jack Park, scene of a June 2, 1856 battle between John Brown’s free-state men and a band of proslavery fighters.

Next up was Baldwin City, a town of 3,746 in southern Douglas County. The well-kept downtown has pleasant storefronts and an attractive streetscape, complete with a fountain. The 1914 Ives Hartley Lumber Company building is being turned into the Lumberyard Arts Center.

Two boys, about 6 or 7-years-old, were playing with a newspaper on the ground. “We’re making a ship,” one told me.

As people stepped out of the barbecue restaurant, they spoke with passersby on the sidewalk. Baldwin City has that easy-going, small-town atmosphere.

A block away from Baldwin City’s downtown is Baker University, a Methodist-based college which began 150 years ago in 1858. Baker graduated 200 students last month.

On a gorgeous campus, old and new buildings are spread out. The campus is covered with a thick, lush grass and plenty of trees. Benches beneath a grape arbor give students a shady place to read.

I stepped inside Osborne Memorial Chapel, a stone church that once stood in Sproxton, England. In 1995, the church, with its approximately 25,000 stones, was painstakingly dismantled in England, then reconstructed here at Baker University. Inside, you’ll find some incredible stained-glass windows. The building’s cornerstone reads “To the Glory of God, June 20, 1864.”

Back on U.S. 56, I stopped at Worden (unincorporated) and photographed its Methodist Church.

I did not overlook Overbrook in Osage County. The town of 971 residents has a Thriftway, a swimming pool and a flower shop, among other things. Here I encountered two huge tractors driving down the Main Street, which is one of the things I love about Kansas.

Scranton (pop. 712) has a bundle of antique stores. In Burlingame (pop. 2,707), Santa Fe Avenue, which runs through the business district, is part of the original Santa Fe Trail. The street is wide enough to flip a U-turn with a team of horses and a wagon, should you have one of those.

And in Osage City (pop. 2,987), the Santa Fe Depot, now the Osage County Railroad and Mining Museum, is undergoing some interior work. Nearby is the 1920s Gilday’s Gas Station with an old White Eagle gasoline pump.

There are many who travel to New Mexico or some such state in hopes of exploring charming or quaint little towns, but hey, we’ve got ‘em here too. And using less than a tank of gas, you can see so much. In Kansas.

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Cheryl Unruh writes Flyover People, a column about Kansas topics, published every Tuesday in The Emporia Gazette. Copyright 2008 Cheryl Unruh.