• The setting sun over the Flint Hills casts shadows across the wide expanse of tallgrass prairie.

    Tallgrass Prairie

    National Preserve Kansas

  • Caution - Construction Zone

    Please use caution and follow signs as you enter the parking lot. Construction is nearly complete on the visitor center and restrooms. Please call 620-273-8494, 6034, or 7034 for most recent information.

  • We Are Relocating

    The preserve staff is in the process of relocating and previous phone numbers may not function. Please call 620-273-8494, 6034, or 7034 to reach the preserve. Contact station hours are from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thank you for your patience.

Living History Program

volunteer patch
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve has implemented a new cultural program on weekends during the summer. Come to the Spring Hill Farm and Stock Ranch and experience life from the 1880s by speaking with living history interpreters. You may see farm hands/cowboys building rock walls, roping, honing their carpentry skills, or creating horseshoes. Join in the fun as you help churn butter, make lye soap, do laundry, quilt, or many of the other tasks that were left to the men and women of the ranch. Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is always looking for volunteers to share their talents and expertise with our visitors. Have fun and experience life in the "Good Ol' Days". If you would like to be one of our "Very Important People", follow the link to the Volunteer page.
 
cooking on the stove
Women demonstrating ranch stove cooking
 
wagon rides during special events
Wagon rides during special events
 
visitors pitching hay
Visitors getting in on the fun of "pitching hay" after the horse-drawn mowing demonstration
 
horse-drawn mowing demonstration
Horse-drawn hay mowing demonstration
 
Historic Christmas party at the Spring Hill Ranch
Historic Christmas party at the Spring Hill Ranch

Did You Know?

Grazing cattle at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

Cattle can gain up to 2 pounds per day grazing on the prairie grasses of the Flint Hills.  The calcium found in the limestone erodes into the soil, making the prairie plants more nutritious for grazing animals. Cattle grazing is still the main agricultural use of the Flint Hills today.