This three story stone barn was one of the largest in Kansas when built. The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve was established in the Flint Hills region of Kansas in 1996. Less than 4% of the 400,000 square miles of tallgrass prairie that once covered the North American Continent still remain, primarily in the Flint Hills of Kansas. The preserve protects 10,861 acres, most of it under control of the Nature Conservancy. Legislation does not permit the National Park Service to own more than 180 acres of the preserve. The National Park Service currently operates 32 acres including the 1881 historic ranch house, limestone barn and outbuildings, and nearby one room schoolhouse. The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is located 2 miles north of Strong City on Kansas Highway 177. 90 minute prairie bus tours are available daily from from the last Saturday in April through the last Sunday in October, at 11 AM, 1 PM, and 3 PM. Tour admission is $5 per adult, $3 age 5–18 years, with 4 and under free. Advance reservations are recomended for the prairie bus tours. Free guided house tours and self guided tours of the ranch headquarters area are available every day of the year, with a 10 minute site orientation video available by request. Warning, the rest rooms are porta-johns. Eight Wonders of Kansas In 2007, the Kansas Sampler Foundation selected the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve as one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas. Other sites selected as the Eight Wonders of Kansas include the Cathedral of the Plains, Kansas Cosmosphere, Monument & Castle Rocks, and the Eisenhower Presidential Library.
copyright 2006-2008 by Keith Stokes |
