Cell phone tour of ranch headquarters, school house, and prairie overlook
Self-guiding Historic Ranch Headquarters
Cell Phone Tour
Click on Complete Tallgrass Prairie NPres Tour for the entire tour, click on the individual links below, or you may call (620) 805-3185 and enter the tour stops to learn about the history of the 1881 Spring Hill Farm and Stock Ranch, the prairie, and the one-room schoolhouse.
1. Historic Buildings and Prairie Overlook Stop 1: Three-level limestone barn Stop 2: Stone corrals and fences Stop 3: Outbuildings Stop 4: Scratch shed Stop 5: Chicken house Stop 6: Carriage house Stop 7: Ranch house Stop 8: Curing house Stop 9: Outhouse Stop 10:Icehouse Stop 11: Prairie overlook Stop 12: Lower Fox Creek Schoolhouse
2. Flint Hills National Scenic Byway
The Flint Hills National Scenic Byway (K-177) is 42 miles of beautiful wide open prairie between Council Grove and Cassoday, Kansas. As you travel the byway, tune your AM dial to 1680 to hear about the many natural and cultural resources of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Much of the following information is provided on our prairie bus tours. There is no driving or biking on the preserve hiking trails, but K-177 provides a beautiful landscape through the Flint Hills with an Overlook Area a few miles south of Cottonwood Falls, KS.
Stop 100: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve establishment Stop 101: Naming the Flint Hills Stop 102: Scenery, Flint, and Patchburn Grazing Stop 103: Last Remaining Tallgrass Prairie and the Prairie Chicken Stop 104: "Legs" of the Tallgrass Stop 105: Flint Hills Plant Growth Stop 106: Surviving Adversity through Diversity Stop 107: Flint Hills Erosion Stop 108: Stone Fences and Quarries Stop 109: Flint Hills Geology and Settlement Stop 110: Kansa Relocation Stop 513: Establishment of the Preserve
3. Spring Hill Ranch House Interior Tour
Stop 201: Welcome Stop 202: Introducing the Jones Family Stop 203: Formal Entry, Parlor, and Interiors Stop 204: Walnut Staircase and Original Wood Flooring Stop 205: Former Kitchen Areas Stop 206: Jones' Office, Bedroom, and Back Porch Stop 207: Dining Room, Sitting Room, and Butler's Pantry Stop 208: Upper Floor Bedrooms and Bathtub Area Stop 209: Front Porch and the View to the East Stop 210: Jones Family History from 1886 - 1914
5. Lower Fox Creek Schoolhouse Tour Stop 401: Introduction to the One Room School Stop 402: History of the Lower Fox Creek School #14 Stop 403: Restoration of the Lower Fox Creek School Stop 404: Interior of the Lower Fox Creek School
