Buffalo Bill Cody Ranch

 


Last month, my friend Rebecca and I took an overnight trip to Western Nebraska to visit some wineries on the Nebraska Passport Program. We spent the night in North Platte, NE, which is the home of Buffalo Bill Cody's Ranch. It was on the agenda for a visit, so we stopped by on a perfect Autumnal Sunday. The ranch is part of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, so you can get in for $2 with your Nebraska State Park Pass.

For those of you unfamiliar with Buffalo Bill Cody, he was a cowboy showman who was born in 1846. His claim to fame was the eponymous show he created, toured the world with, and made his fortune with: Buffalo Bill's Wild West



This sign at the entrance to the Ranch gives visitors a bit of history behind the man who once lived here.




It's an impressive house, even now, and it's been lovingly restored and maintained.







When you enter, a facsimile of a ticket to the Wild West show is there for visitors to take.




I love walking through old homes that have been maintained and/or restored. It's like stepping back in time and I find it fascinating. Here we see the dining room and the table is set with Bill Cody's personalized chinaware.




I had to get a close-up shot of the wallpaper in this room. While it's not the original it was recreated to be an exact duplicate and carefully put up. It seems fitting for a house owned by Buffalo Bill Cody!




This old, framed photograph shows exactly how the ranch looked back during its heyday.




This little alcove, situated under the stairs to the third floor, is called a cupola. It's a small wooden-floored room with windows and was only used for looking towards town to see if expected guests were on the way.




One of the bedrooms in the house.




There were plenty of display posters from Cody's Wild West show days.




A photograph of Buffalo Bill in his later years.




Annie Oakley was one of the women who were part of the Wild West show, and undoubtedly, one of its most famous.




A view down the stairs from the second to the first floor where you can directly see a photograph of Bill during his heyday.




A small pond adjacent to the ranch kept the house supplied with water and ice for refrigeration.




The doors to the spring house...




...a building where freshwater was stored for daily use. This would have been used as opposed to a well.




Another building in the rear of the house was multi-functional and held a bathhouse as well as the cider house where apples were turned into delicious apple cider.




There is also an ice house. Ice would be carved from the frozen pond, turned into ice blocks, and used in icebox refrigerators.




Another view of the pond.




A short walk from the ranch house lies the Cody North Cabin. It wasn't on the property originally, but rather was disassembled, brought to the ranch, and reassembled.




It's a small cabin but served its purpose.




A back-side view of the ranch house. You can see the Spring House and the multifunctional bath/cider house.


I do love history, particularly the history of my adopted state. If you're ever in Western Nebraska, near North Platte, it's worth a stop here for a visit. 



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