Good Afternoon!
For many years now, I have been a proud member of the DAR, Daughter’s of the American Revolution. To become a member of DAR you must be able to trace your lineage back to a patriot who fought in the Revolutionary war. For some, the process is easy and for other’s it can be a little more challenging to find the documents you need to join. My application was fairly simple because I had a great aunt who was a member.
When you join DAR, you suddenly have a lot of sisters which is so awesome! I have made so many friends through this organization and it has been a huge blessing in my life.
Several of my DAR sisters have a passion for the Santa Fe Trail and because this is the 200th anniversary of the trail, a group of us decided to go on a road trip to found Santa Fe trail markers. In 1906, the DAR placed 96 trail markers across Kansas that follow the trail. Can you image trying to find out exactly where the trail went in 1906 without GPS? It must have been a full time job/passion to get these markers placed across Kansas!
One bright, beautiful day in April, 4 of us loaded up in a pick up truck and made our way to Kingsley, Kansas. We picked that town because we knew they were several in the area and we wouldn’t have to drive as far to find them.
The first stop was actually in the town of Kingsley outside of the Edwards County Historical Museum. In this picture are two of my DAR sisters, Deb Miller and Deniese Fawcett. Not pictured is our wonderful National Chair for the Santa Fe trail, Dee Saddler.
This marker was a little harder to find! I should have known it would be when the driving instructions included longitude and latitude with it. With some patience we found it in the middle of Peace Lutheran Cemetery. We didn’t stay there very long as there were a lot of snake holes!
Next stop was Fort Larned and the Santa Fe Trail museum. We toured the museum and I couldn’t resist taking pictures of these beautiful quilts!
I thought this baby buggy was just darling with the crazy quilt!
Next stop was Pawnee Rock which was know as the half way point between Independence, Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Originally the rock was about 150 feet tall and you could look out over the prairie and see the Arkansas river. A lot of it was cut down when they built the railroad, so it is now 50 to 60 feet tall.
Another marker is found!
All in all, it was a beautiful, fun day spent with my dear DAR sisters! I can also tell you that is was very addictive to rise to the challenge of looking for the trail markers and I am ready to go again!
Talk to you soon,
Val
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