American West Historical Sites / Towns / Places to Visit

As others have noted, the West is a big place! Rather than making a list that may not cover where you are going, I suggest you check what is available in all the small towns you camp near. Most have museums that run from excellent to laughable, but there are so many of them that making a list doesn't work. An example of an offbeat one I enjoyed was the Fossil Museum in Fossil, OR. The first time I saw a gasoline powered iron!

A big advantage of these small museums is they are often run by a local old timer that will have wonderful stories about the area. Much more interesting than the canned guides in the larger facilities.

Here are a few to Google, Scott's Bluff/Chimney Rock, NE, the end of the prairie and fork in the road on the way West, Pipe Spring, AZ near the Utah boarder. Be sure to watch the movie at the visitors center, Benn a ranger w/the park service works there and is in the movie. Another place to visit is Hubbell Trading Post in Ganado, AZ. At Scott's Bluff, some rangers are usually in costume and there is where we learned about the tea they carried in the wagon trains.

Fort Laramie in WY, in fact download the PDF at this site, Trading Posts and Forts

Two things are pivotal in settling the West, The Corps of Discovery and the Oregon trail. Starting just outside St. Louis and ending at the mouth of the mighty Columbia, the Corps trail was truly to key to the western movement. The Oregon trail led to the settling of the Pacific Northwest.

A lot of other places both north and south of the two trails like Hubbells can be found by reading about the movement. The vast area from Mesa Verde to Monument Valley to Pipe Spring to the slick rock areas of So. Utah are seeped in Indian Lore and the settling the west.

Read about "The Long Walk", "The Trail of Tears" and other atrocities perpetrated on our First Nations People and you'll have another ten or twenty Bucket Lists about the whole country.

There are a lot of people who live in the towns and cities where you'll travel that will sit and talk with you, so don't just look at the displays in the museums and visitors centers, look for that person who wants you to know about their homeland. Especially look to the First Nations People and the docents in museums and visitor centers.

I talked to one Navajo elder for 30 or 40 minutes before he started talking to me, but, when he did, it was very educational and became very emotional for both of us. Just seeing is only part of of the experience. The sales clerks in the store at the Monument Valley hotel are mostly Navajo and if it is not busy, boy oh boy do they have stories.

Great museum about the settlers travels West.
https://archway.org/

The Buffalo Bill Museum of the West in Cody, WY is also excellent. You will need 2 days to visit all of the displays and not kill yourself. They know this so your pass is good for 2 days. You could then head into Yellowstone for a week but if you can plan this part of your visit AFTER Summer (after the kids are back in school) you will have a MUCH more enjoyable visit.

Let's see, Yellowstone NP, MT/WY/ID Grand Teton NP, WY, Glacier NP, MT/Canada, Butte, MT Museum of Mining, Custer Battle Field, MT, Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs, Saco, MT (just discovered this unique place), Zion NP, UT, Deadwood SD for some gaming, Las Vegas, NV for more gaming and unique entertainment. The Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, WY. That's about four states and a few weeks travel. Good luck and travel safely.

Oh boy, this is going to be a wonderfully long post! The West? There are sooooo many places to visit, but one that immediately came to mind, is Virginia City, Montana! In addition, an out of the way place, that not too many know about is Custer and Bonanza just NE of Stanley, Idaho, off of Hwy 75.

Rookie RVer :C here! There is no time table......i’m retired, so there are no hurries or worries. In about two and a half weeks I am pulling up anchor and getting underway. This year my 2018 Summer Travel Bucket List will be focused on the old American West. Just because the trip start in summer does not mean it must end when the summer ends........i’m retired :-) . If that mean I travel the “zillion” miles (as referred to in a reply) that’s okay too......i’m retired. Googling information like this doesn’t compare to the responses I can get from those who have actually live it.

My 2017 Summer Travel Bucket List focused on historical American Slavery Sites. I pulled up anchor and got underway mid-June and didn’t return until a couple of days before Thanksgiving.......i’m retired :-) . “Summer Travel Bucket List” is more a title than an accurate description. It’s helps with the organizing of my journals that include all sorts of things like pics, sourvieners, writings, and memories.

If there was one place......just one place that you have visited that has the old American
West focus which you are fond of what would it be?

As other have said, give us something to narrow things down, there are many options.

If you get near Deming, new mexico, check out this museum. Text below copied from wikipedia:

Wikipedia wrote:
The Deming Armory (formerly known as the State Armory, now also known as the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum) is a historic armory in the United States, located at 301 South Silver Avenue in Deming, Luna County, New Mexico.

We thought we would spend about an hour in this museum. After 4 hours, we had to move on due to campground reservations. We then planned our return trip so that we could visit again to see the remainder of the exhibits.

The "Queen Mine Tour" in Bisbee, AZ is worth a stop also.

Fred

Lots of ghost towns, graveyards, museums and Western things from San Bernardino to Lee Vining along U.S. Hwy. 395 including Death Valley. No DV from June to October however...too hot. Alabama Hills, Movie Road, Bodie, Bishop Mule Days, Laws etc.

I’ve not been, but the Buffalo Bill museum in Cody WY gets high marks. We like the old Oregon Trail through Nebraska into WY. Also check out the Little Bighorn NP in Hardin, MT, and historic Sheridan WY.