Last year was the 150th anniversary of Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence. The Watkins Historical Museum created a special exhibit featuring it. I've been dying to go, but hadn't taken the opportunity. Yesterday we used an orthodontist appointment & our flat travelers as an excuse to finally make it to the museum.
The price is right only a suggested donation of $2 per child & $3 per adult. There are 2 main floors of exhibits. The first floor used to be a bank and still has the teller windows in place.
They had some great exhibits on basketball, Langston Hughes, the Old Sacramento cannon and of course Quantrill. I was most impressed with the Quantrill exhibit. It was interactive. Bubby loved using the touch screen to interact with the route of the raiders. It also had some artifacts left over in the aftermath.
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| Bubby and Shorty with "Old Sacramento" |
I learned something new with the Old Sacramento cannon. It was used in the Mexican-American War, was moved around during the free-state battles, and ultimately fired in Lawrence in celebration of Kansas being admitted into the Union as a free state.
Upstairs of the Watkins used to be the land offices. They had some local history items and a large Victorian play house that the kids were able to enter and play in. They were thrilled!
Definitely worth the trip. We'll be visiting again, Mookie had opted to stay at home, but was bummed when she heard our stories. I didn't get to see all of it myself, so I welcome the opportunity to go back:)
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