Nearby

Whether you want to spend an hour or a whole day exploring the area, there's something for everyone...

We love the old barns in the Kansas countryside. Here are a few we see routinely...

Larger Cities

If you want a break from quietude, try Lawrence (<1 hour), Kansas' liberal mecca, home to KU & a thriving arts & music scene. Lots of restaurants, shops, bars & music venues & a jim-dandy LYS.

Topeka (35-40 min) is the capital city and has an interesting downtown and a nice city park, complete with wonderful concrete animals, a mini train & historic carousel. A huge restoration of the capital building is currently underway.

Manhattan (~1 hr) is home to K State.

Kansas City, MO (<2 hrs) is a wonderful, historic city with outstanding attractions, food & architecture.

St Joseph, MO (~2 hrs) is home to the wonderful Glore Psychiatric Museum.

Wichita is Kansas' largest city and home to a great Boeing outlet and the Starlight Drive-in movie theater.

Salina (~2 hours) is the home to the world-famous Cozy Inn sliders.

Nature

Fishing at various local lakes & ponds.

Hiking, biking, or Sunday driving in the rugged Flint Hills and around Echo Cliff.

Gorgeous sunrises & sunsets.

Stormwatching.

Small-Town Life

Maisie's Pool. Eskridge (adjacent to our Eskridge buildings)

Town and County Fairs occur throughout the fall.

"Feeds" are sponsored by local churches and civic groups. Look for signs and notices in all the small towns. Pancake feeds, chili feeds, and taco fees are the usual suspects.

Harveyville Lions Club Dinner Theater, early spring. A hilarious and poorly-memorized all-male (read: drag) performance by the Harveyville Lions, served with a bowl of chili and a cinnamon roll.

Farmers' Markets run in the summertime.

Eskridge Rodeo is Labor Day weekend.

High School Sports (and associated bake sales...). The local team is the Mission Valley Vikings. The cinnamon rolls & sausages served at football games are delicious. And I can honestly say that every bake-sale brownie I've purchased in Kansas has been mind-blowing.

The Demolition Derby recently moved to Harveyville. If you like smashy-smashy and fried oreos, you're in hog heaven.

Food & Drink

Burlingame (a quick 8 miles drive) now has a liquor store! Whoo hoo!

Riggins Market (pizza & sandwiches). Harveyville.

Santa Fe Cafe. Breakfast, lunch & dinner. Named after the famous Sante Fe Trail, which ran through Burlingame. Burlingame (10 minutes).

Flint Hills Steakhouse on Beautiful Lake Wabaunsee. Eskridge (15 minutes). Trudy Hawkins makes the outstanding desserts.

Annie's. Breakfast & Lunch. Eskridge (15 minutes).

Probsky's. Famous and wonderful sinus-cleansing horseradish pickles, lauded by Road Food. Take some home with you. Topeka.

Arthur Bryant's. Insane Kansas City Barbecue that may make you weep with joy. Kansas City.

Stroud's. Chicken like you never knew. Kansas City.

Cozy Inn. Home of world-famous sliders. (Sliders, btw, are a Kansas invention. The original White Castle was in Wichita.) Our friend Noah won't shut up about them. Salina.

The Alma Sweet Shop makes delectable (and cheap!) cookies.

Sightseeing & Tours (also see Cities)

Symphony in the Flint Hills will be in Wabaunsee County near Eskridge this year!

Alma Creamery. See cheese made & buy seasonal bargains. Alma.

Wabaunsee County Museum. Old-timey relics from throughout the county. Alma.

Burlingame Schuyler Museum, located in the old school building! Burlingame.

The Oz Museum. Mammoth collection of Wizard of Oz memorbelia and home of Oztoberfest. Wamego.

The Columbian. Dinner theater & museum. Wamego.

Gage Park in Topeka has a mini-train with a delightful old conductor/tour guide. There's also a fantastic 1920s Spillman carousel and fanciful concret animals in the playground.

Midland Railway. Excursions on a restored Rock Island Line car. Baldwin City.

Fieldstone Orchards. Apple & Cherry Picking.

Burgess Farm Winery. Local fruit wines. Open daily 12-6 or call for an appointment. Harveyville.

1950s Electric House. Shawnee

Shopping

Jepson Studios. Award-winning hand-thrown, hand-glazed functional stoneware. Harveyville.

Eskridge has an old general store where you can find some strange and delightful old things.

Krause Hardware in Burlingame is a dying breed of small-town hardware stores with a little bit of everything.

Auctions. A ton of them featuring anything you can imagine. They're going on pretty much every weekend.