This place ended up being quite the letdown for us. Our family of 5 showed up on Wednesday, September 6th and paid $16 for the 2 p.m. tour. We were the only ones on the grounds and pretty excited to essentially have a personal tour. The lady running the gift shop was wonderful and very friendly keeping us entertained while we waited for the "tour guide" who showed up 10 mins late reeking to high heaven of cigarettes.
He walked into the gift shop where we were waiting, didn't introduce himself or seem too excited to be there and said, "If you're ready, let's go." We walk out onto the porch of the gift shop and he immediately says, "I'm not going to get too much into the history. It's boring." Ok, well what in the world did we just pay for?? We honestly should have turned around at that point and requested a refund, but we wanted to see inside the buildings.
Since Google only allows so many words to a review, I will give you all the "information" he gave us without including all the unanswered questions we have.
Stop #1: A large cabin. He unlocks the door, lets us in and says, "Imagaine 8 people living here. You have to haul water in from the river twice a day and you sleep outside in the summer because it's hot." He then let's us walk around the 3 room cabin without another word. There's pictures and items on the wall, but nothing containing any additional information.
Stop #2: A white mansion across the way. He says, "This was built in 4 years. The man who built it died a year after it was completed. The walls are 16" thick. There are 5 bedrooms upstairs. There is no bathroom because there was no plumbing. There is no kitchen because they didn't want a fire to break out." I would have loved more "boring" details, but it was clear he wasn't in the mood to share them with us.
Stop #3: The Train Station. He said, "We relocated it from Everest, KS after the city decided they were going to tear it down." We walked around inside while he stood by silently. No more information was given about it's age or significance.
Stop #4: The School House. We walked inside and were told, "Grades 1 through 6 were taught here. If you were a female and could pass a teaching test, you became one at 15. Everyone else worked on the family farm after completing the 6th grade." I don't know if the school house is original to the area or if it is a replica. I don't know if the desks inside were original to the period or purchased randomly elsewhere and placed inside for looks. We know nothing else outside of what little he said.
Stop #5: The church. There is a 6th stop but he said he wouldn't be taking us into the physicians office with our 7, 6 and 3 year old kids in tow. He unlocked the church, let us in and said, "We hold small weddings here." That was it. No information on the church or it's age was given. I can only assume it was specifically built there to host wedding and has no significance to it otherwise.
After the church he said, "Ok. Go into the store for your free drink. Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't." And walked off.
After he left, the older woman from the gift shop came over to us with a huge smile across her face and said, "Wasn't that the neatest tour?! Now to you see how the Oregan Trail played apart in everything." We smiled and said the tour was nice because we didn't want to be rude, but no, the tour was awful. We felt cheated and learned absolutely nothing. We left "5 stars" on the comment card after the tour just so our kids could have the free drink which was a green concoction (it tasted like a really sweet Sprite) pharmacist used to make for children if they drank their meds back in the day. It was essentially their reward. That was probably the most information we were given that day.
The grounds are pretty and free, but based on our lackluster experience, I would not recommend paying for the tour unless you really, really, really want to see inside...
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