Museum to open Santa Fe Trail exhibit

Story by Sarah Baker, Editor

On Saturday, Sept. 27, Old Castle will open an exhibit featuring objects related to the Santa Fe Trail. The exhibit, which appropriately opens on Museum Day, features objects that would have been used on the Santa Fe Trail as it passed through Douglas County.

Director of Archives and Museum and Exhibit Curator Jen McCollough said that two of the featured items are actually from the Santa Fe Trail segment that ran through the lower portion of Douglas County.

“The only two things from the exhibit that we know are from the Santa Fe Trail, basically, are a teapot and a key,” McCollough said. “And they were both from a hotel in Palmyra for trail travelers. That’s basically all that is left from the Santa Fe Trail in Douglas County.”

The exhibit also highlights the now non-existent Santa Fe Trail settlements, like Palmyra, which was located close to the local high school. All that remains of Palmyra, now the Palmyra Township, is a sign, a well and a fire department on the north side of town.

McCullough was given a grant to put this exhibit together by the Santa Fe Trail Historical Society of Douglas County. She also hopes to keep the exhibit open until spring.

The exhibit officially opens this Saturday from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Any other time, McCullough gives tours of Old Castle and the featured exhibit by appointments.