Butterfly Lodge Museum — Attraction in Arizona

The hunting cabin of James W Schultz built in 1913. Schultz was adopted into the Blackfeet Tribe in Montana when he married a Blackfoot woman and lived amongst them and hunted the last of the buffalo in 1880’s. He arrived from back east on a Steamboat up the Missouri to Fort Benton from a well to do family but longed to explore the wild west before it got settled. His beautiful Blackfoot wife passed away after they were together over 20 years and he proceeded to continue guided hunting trips into Glacier National Park. His Blackfoot name was Apikuni. Apikuni eventually became a well regarded author of his exploits amongst Blackfeet people. He had left Montana due to an investigations of Illegal hunting at GNP. He ended up In LA, soon writing for the newspaper. His wanderlust soon took over and was exploring places such as Casa Grande ruins in Arizona. He worked for awhile at San Carlos Indian reservation when he found the perfect area for his hunting cabin in the area eventually to be named Greer, Az. He was the first non Az resident to build his cabin here. He wrote many books in this cabin. His half breed son Lone Wolf aka Hart M Schultz also was an established painter who painted many paintings here as well. Apikuni named the cabin ‘Apuni Oyis’ which in Blackfeet means Butterfly Lodge due to all the butterlies in adjacent meadows. This is a great little museum honoring his past. The docent was very imformative, I encourage those that have never been here to experience this unique piece of history and def read some of his books that he wrote...

Butterfly Lodge Museum. A quaint little place in Greer, Arizona it is the previous home of J. W. or James Willard Schultz. James was a Native American whom had built the cabin and had written 37 books, many of which are kept in the cabin itself. It also features art from his son. Along with other objects from their life and antiques of the time period, it is an intriguing experience to have. While the website proclaims closure at five, as does its sign, it actually closes at four. When we did arrive at four, we were offered a tour anyways. The staff was kind and informative despite our group...

The lady that greeted us was so friendly and she gave us great information about the lodge and it's past inhabitants. It was very interesting to go through. Make sure to leave a donation so they can continue the upkeep on the lodge. The gift store has books from the original owner, it's a good read, and it's worth a visit to see this...