Nebraska: Homestead National Monument of America

Homestead National Monument of America is located in Beatrice (pronounced Bee-aa-triss), Nebraska, which is a town of about 14,000 people and many historic buildings. The Homestead National Monument of America, which consists of two buildings filled with exhibits and several acres of restored prairie-land, are located 4 miles west of Beatrice on State Highway 4.


The two buildings are separated from each other by a couple of miles via State Highway 4, and visitors are encouraged to walk between the two of them on paved trails through the restored prairie.

Homestead National Monument of America

Homestead National Monument of America

As you head west on Old Highway 4, the first building you’ll come to is the main Homestead National Monument of America building. There’s plenty of parking here, and the prairieland and the other building, which is the Education Center as well as housing the park’s offices, is just a mile or so away via a paved path through the prairie.

Do you live neaer a homestead? The walk up to the entrance

Do you live near a homestead? The walk up to the entrance of this first buiding

On a long brick wall leading up to this building are metal silhouettes of each of the states where homesteading occurred. It was the Homestead Act that really opened up the United States to settlement and increased its population.

Support your national parks - buy souvenirs or books at their gift shop!

Support your national parks – buy souvenirs or books at their gift shop!

To your right as you enter is the gift shop. To your left is the Welcome Desk, and a bit past that on your left is a theatre that shows a 15 minute movie on the history of Homesteading.

Native Americans are not ignored in this film, nor is the fact that it is their lands that were taken for homesteading as they were pushed again and again onto lousy reservations – and thus eventually forced into depending on food from the government since they could no longer hunt and the land they were given was too poor to farm.

Two floors of exhibits

Two floors of exhibits

Signs advertising the Homestead Act – settle on 160 acres for five years and the land is your for free, line the top floor walls. The bottom floor has the museum exhibits.

Fate of native Americans

Fate of native Americans

Mountain Men

Mountain Men

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Rain follows plow

Rain follows plow

Go outside and you can walk along the trails in the restored prairie land, with plenty of explanatory placards and signage.

The prairire preserve

The prairie preserve,with signage explaining what visitors will see in the prairie

THE EDUCATION CENTER

Education Center building

Education Center building, the second building you’ll come to as you walk or drive west a couple of miles

Follow the pavement to the next building, the Education Center, or drive there – it’s just a couple of miles away.

100th year anniversary - park quilts

100th Year Anniversary – park quilts

In 2016 the National Park Service celebrated its 100th anniversary. Quilters made quilts with designs honoring several of the parks, and after the exhibit is over the quilts will be sent to the appropriate park for display.

Exhibits - Tools used by homesteaders

Exhibits – Tools used by homesteaders

Tools used by the homesteaders to farm their land are on display, as are three videos talking about the tools and methods needed to sew the land, reap what was sewn, and get it to market.

Tourism brochures for Nebraska

Tourism brochures for Nebraska

Homestead National Monument of America is one of five National Park Service-controlled sites in Nebraska – the others being the Scotts Bluff National Monument, the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, the Niobrara National Scenic River and the Missouri National Recreational River.

But there’s plenty of things to see and do in Nebraska, and I’ll cover more in future articles for Wyoming in Motion.

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