Sod House Museum — Attraction in Fairview

A truly unique museum.

Imagine this -- you've left everything behind and headed west. You stake a homestead, but what will you do for shelter? There aren't many trees around, so building a log cabin is out of the question. You have to use what you have around.

What would that be? As it happens, there's lots and lots and lots of sod -- turf. People built dwellings out of blocks of sod, stacked to forms walls and even the roof.

Naturally, this sort of house isn't going to last very long, though they were surprisingly durable. Yet despite the fact that thousands of these were built all over the Great Plains, only one survives today in its original location, and this is it.

Really worth a stop. Transport yourself back in time, and realize how lucky you are to live in a...

Renee, the Director at the sod house, was able to give us some extra time and shared many interesting additional details. I've read so much about sod houses in historical stories, and have seen many pictures. I have a great great aunt who lived in one even. Now I can imagine it all so much better. The museum is more than the sod house though - it's a lesson about the day-to-day life of those who lived in them and how they survived. I was impressed again by the way the pioneer women who moved west were tough and hard working and had little materially, yet they still made their little homes as pretty as they could. It was a spur of the moment decision to visit this museum, but ended up being one of the highlights of our two week trip...

It was back in 2004 when I came by this place when I was driving big truck 🚛 for CR England with my driver trainer and we stopped here for a break, my driver trainer had some things to with dispatch so it gave me the opportunity to check this place out, and I have to say it was absolutely amazing, also the woman that gave the tour was the most pleasant and very knowledgeable... I would absolutely love to return to this museum someday if at...