buffalo bill ranch state historical park

Buffalo Bill Ranch tour is excellent. Traveling on I-80, this is an excellent stop. You can wonder around the well cared for grounds. It is a very quiet, peaceful place off the beaten path. Only a few minutes drive from the interstate interchange. (Tip, take the frontage road just on the north side of I-80 and go west, and THEN go north to the ranch. You will see this option on your mapping tools. That way, you bypass all the traffic on the main drag in North Platte.) We especially liked the huge horse barn, hay loft complete with specialized hay handling equipment for the era, the grain handling system, also ingenious for the era AND the highlight, was Buffalo Bill's hunting cabin that was moved onto this site from his old hunting stomping grounds out on the plains.

A semi annual visit for us is Christmas at the Cody's. They deck the ranch out in sparkling lights and decorations for tours as well as offer old fashion pastimes such as hay rack rides on the grounds all for a minimal ticket price. As the house is a local museum, the tour comes complete with several interesting highlights from old west history and ways of life and brings the house back to it's time. It is open specific hours year round and has some good Midwest iconic photo opportunities on the grounds as well. Worth the stop if you're here to visit or just passing through and would like a break from the road!

If you love history and historical personalities......don't pass this up.......even though it was closed in January when we went through, I'm glad we stopped...I think you always get a special feeling when visiting places like this.....not an apparition feeling....but just a sense of how it must have been. It is a peaceful, serene setting; housing the barn, home and grounds......a site of interest if you are into western history or you are a teacher etc. We would have enjoyed a tour, but were thankful to have been able to walk the grounds and view the farm. It was well worth the time and effort to stop and look it over!

This is a must see! This house and the barn are original, interesting, and fun to view! My great grandmother didn't like Buffalo Bill but you will :)!

William Frederick Cody, AKA Buffalo Bill once said "My restless roaming spirit would not allow me to remain at home very long". Yet, in 1886 he had Scout's Rest built, a home to relax between the Travels of the Wild West Show. This was going to be the last page on my Buffalo Bill photo portfolio: I had seen Cody, Wyoming, the town he built and the beautiful Irma hotel (named after his daughter). I enjoyed very much visiting the Buffalo Bill Center in Cody. I took photos from atop his tomb, on Lookout Mountain in Denver where he lies under several tons of concrete, courtesy of his estranged wife who had the body stolen from Cody, brought and burred in Denver, even though his will specified that he wanted to rest in peace in Cody. There are those who believe that she was paid $10,000 for the deed by the two crooked lawyers who bankrupted him. I had watched old black and white tapes of the Wild West Show in the P.T.Barnum museum in Bridgeport, CT. A Scout's Rest in North Platte, NE was going to be the grand finale. It did not work this way. I arrived in a sunny afternoon in November only to find the place (now a state park) closed for the season!We were able to walk around, see the outside of the house and the barn (built in 1909), a jewel of a barn all by itself. The property is peaceful and pleasant, even in our time, adjacent to a Hereford cattle ranch. Blue skies, even in November, endless fields and cattle, I can see how he fell in love with it. I will have to come back here.

70 degrees and sunny in North Platte advertisements everywhere, recommendations from my Nebraska friends and it was closed! There are so many other great examples of the pioneer spirit in Nebraska skip this and go to Minden for the pioneer village instead.

This a very cool house that has been restored to the period. There are lots of items that belonged to the Cody family and there is a video playing in the room at the end of the hall upstairs. I didn't know a lot about Buffalo Bill so the video was very informative. The barn is huge! The best part is that there are very worn posters on the wall that Buffalo Bill personally put up around 100 years ago! There is also a cabin and cellar that you can walk through on the property. The admission fee that you pay at the house is only $2, however they charge you an additional $5 for a Nebraska State Park fee. They make it sound like a great deal since it gets you into any state park for the next 24 hours. I wasn't planning to go to any other state parks so it was a waste of $5.

We stopped here on our way to Grand Island. We went in through the front door and paid our State Park admission (I don't remember how much) which got us into other state parks for at least the next 24 hours. The house is self guided and is decorated with original furnishings. It is just amazing. Outside, there are several outbuilding that you can tour-springhouse, chicken coop, log cabin and a humongous barn. The barn has some saddles and machinery on display. Just past the barn are a couple of bison. If you are a history buff and a fan of Buffalo Bill Cody's, this is a must stop place.

We made an unexpected stop at Buffalo Bills Ranch in NE. Tour is a reasonable price and self guided.. Home and surrounding grounds are beautiful. Glad we stopped.

We felt that we should see this attraction as it is acclaimed as one of North Platte's main tourist offerings. We found it interesting and gained a lot of insight into "the man and the myth", especially form the film that is shown when you tour the house. Make sure to ask for the brochure describing the rooms in the house before you take the self-guided tour. Many of the rooms and exhibits are not labelled. The barn contains memorabilia, posters, vehicles etc and is worth visiting. we felt that the price for the house tour was reasonable but the additional $5 charge for the State Park fee should be unnecessary.

Very enjoyable visit to a spot where I wasn't force-fed touristy flair; knowledgeable staff, and a particularly entertaining docent - a local business owner who was dressed as the mirror-image of Cody himself, including the beautiful white horse that Buffalo Bill was known to prefer. 'Bill' and his horse 'Isham' (whose actual tooth you'll find on display in the house) posed for pictures with the family and were a delightful addition to the tour.

North Platte is proud of its Buffalo Bill legacy. The Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park is the crown jewel of all things Buffalo Bill in the region.William F. Cody settled in North Platte in 1878, following a long career as a Pony Express rider, soldier, scout and sometime actor.Buffalo Bill got his nickname during his work for the Kansas Pacific Railroad. The cowboy was hired to provide buffalo meat for the company. He reportedly killed almost 4,300 bison in during an 18-month period. A three-story Victorian-style house welcomes visitors to the “Scouts Rest Ranch,” north of town. At the time it was built, it was THE most expensive house in North Platte, coming in at $4,000.Buffalo Bill and his wife Louisa had four children while living at the ranch. Life was not good to them when it came to the children. Two of them died from Scarlett Fever at ages 5 and 8. The third child, a daughter, died at age 35. The youngest daughter (three daughters and a son) – Irma – lived the longest to age 38.Irma managed the ranch for Buffalo Bill when she was older. She also traveled with the show. She even raised her three children on the ranch.The Codys – at least Buffalo Bill – loved to entertain people at the ranch. Following a nice meal in the dining room, the men and women would separate to different rooms.The women would enjoy each other’s company in the parlor, where they could sing songs and play the piano, as well as visit.The men, however, retired to buffalo Bill’s den. Here, they would smoke cigars and swap stories. A lot of the furniture in the house either belonged to the family or is from their era.As with most families during the 1800s, indoor bathrooms didn’t exist. The family had a small storage shed behind the house, where a lot of items were kept, including the family bathtub. Baths were a luxury, even for the wealthy. It’s thought that they may have bathed once a month. And, the kicker…they used the same water. Can you imagine how muddy and filthy the water was by the time the last person (usually the youngest person) took their bath? One area the Codys were blessed in with their home was an ice box. They would cut a chunk of ice out of the pond not far from the house. Their ice building was well insulated with hay, so the ice kept for almost a year. They were able to keep their ice box (refrigerator for the youngsters) chilled in the kitchen.Buffalo Bill and his wife slept in separate bedrooms. She liked to go to bed at night. He liked to entertain into the late hours. His room had a buffalo hide spread over the bed. His work desk was located nearby. He would take the desk set with him during his travels.The guest room was located next to his bedroom, with a connecting door. I am guessing Buffalo Bill liked to party.A room is set aside to display items related to his show days, including weapons and clothing. A Russian Cossack uniform is on display.Buffalo Bill loved his animals. He had a large barn built for the horses. The barn has the ranch’s name painted on the roof – Scouts Rest Ranch. He had an even larger one built for the other livestock, such as cattle. Buffalo Bill is credited with bringing the first blooded livestock to the state.Buffalo Bill was considered an innovator. And it flowed over to his ranch operations. He had an indoor grain bin in the horse barn. The top floor of the barn housed the bin. Hay could be stored inside and later fed to the horses through chutes. The horses didn’t have to leave their stables to enjoy a fine meal.The state park has a few items of display related to the Buffalo Bill era.A covered wagon is located in the barn. It won an award for best horse-drawn entry during the Nebraskaland Days parade in June.A collection of saddles – mostly western – is on display. A couple of saddles stood out.The first is a Hispanic saddle. Latin cowboys loved big saddle horns (no reason given). The stirrups actually had boot covers, aka “booties.” This was to protect their feet from cactus as they rode the desert and other brush areas. The second saddle was an American Calvary saddle. It was thin and small. It didn’t look comfortable, but made sense for the travel time a soldier could spend on a horse, reducing as much weight as possible and increasing speed.The barn is home to a theater, which airs a 20-minute show on Buffalo Bill’s life. It’s worth the time. You learn quite a bit during that short time.A couple of personal features adorn the top of the barn. The slats used on the overhang are in the shape of rifles. At the top of the V on the barn is a heart with a hole in it. It’s to honor Annie Oakley, who was a star with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. The hole represents Oakley’s act of shooting a hole in the Ace of hearts card. After the barn, continue checking out the ranch. It sits on 16 acres of the original land. Buffalo Bill once owned about 4,000 acres of land at the ranch. A windmill stands in a pasture just off the barn. The windmill’s head unit is original to the ranch.The ranch is home to a few bison. During our visit, we were among the first visitors to get a look at a new-born calf. It was two days old when we visited.Mom paid a lot of attention to us while we were stopped and watching them. The baby moved behind mom. Motherly protection seems to be natural with all creatures. The calf brings the ranch total to three bison.A log cabin that once belonged to Buffalo Bill was moved to the ranch. He used the cabin as a hunting lodge. It was located about 60 miles north of North Platte. The cabin had to be taken apart when it was transported to the park, and then rebuilt.Buffalo Bill planted several trees on his property. Remember, back then we didn’t have a lot of trees in the plains. Some people will argue that it’s the same today. A few of the Cottonwoods Buffalo Bill planted still stand at the ranch.Buffalo Bill’s ranch is an outstanding attraction to visit when in the area. It should be at the top of everyone’s list when traveling to or through North Platte. I strongly recommend visiting the ranch. It is a state park, so a park permit is required. A day pass is $5. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children under 13.In addition to the ranch, the state operates a state recreation area on the ranch grounds. People can camp and fish there.

We were driving thru Nebraska and saw the sign for this attraction and decided to stop. Very glad we did. Nicely maintained and has quite a bit of history to review. There are stairs in several buildings. Nice connection to Cody Wyoming, which we visited previously.

If you're interested in Buffalo Bill, this is a must see. We enjoyed our visit. The grounds are immaculately kept. Definitely worth the time if you're in the area.

This is a piece of history that is enjoyable for the whole family. Be sure to check out all of the buildings and pet the buffalo. The house has spectacular furnishings and historic art.