Red Carpet Country, Oklahoma


A vast prehistoric sea that covered what's now northwestern Oklahoma colored the soil a deep red-brown -- and left a few other surprised as well. Like the cedar-flecked canyons in Roman Nose State Park, carved by receding water, or the Alabaster Caverns, the world's largest gypsum-lined cave. Shifting sand dunes tower 40 feet high at Little Sahara State Park and the 4,973-foot-high, lava topped Black Mesa near Kenton was created by an ancient volcano. The mesa, the state's highest point, has long been a have for wildlife and for hikers -- some of them bigger than others, as nearby dinosaur footprints testify. The prairies were once dotted with tipis; northwest Oklahoma were the winter campgrounds for the Cheyenne-- the last great herd of buffalo on the Oklahoma plains was spotted near Fort Supply in the 1870s. Two decades later, the largest of all the land runs took place when the Cherokee Outlet was opened in1893 to settlement. In a single afternoon, 100,000 men and women raced to claim 160-acre quarter-sections; some of their great-grandchildren still live on original homesteads. In Aline, the Sod House Museum shelters the only remaining sod house in the state, built in 1849.
Explore Red Carpet Country
Windmill Museum and Park
Shattuck Windmill Museum and Park was established in 1994 and now, 37 windmills stand in the park, with no two alike, from a little 5 foot "Star Zephyr" to the big 18 foot "Samson."
Shattuck, OK MuseumsGovernor Seay Mansion
The Seay Mansion is a monument to a dream, a dream that Kingfisher would be the new capitol of Oklahoma Territory; a dream that never came true. Abraham Jefferson Seay, the second Territorial Governor of Oklahoma from 1892 to 1893, built the three-story mansion named, "Horizon Hill,"
Kingfisher, OK MuseumsWagon Train Monument
1776 - 1996, Bi-Centennial Wagon Train Pilgrimage - Oklahoma Official Representatives This wagon train traveled 1,200 miles from Randlett, Oklahoma to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Ivan and Dorthy left Laverne on February 11, 1976
Laverne, OK MonumentsRailroad Museum of Oklahoma
If you are fascinated by trains, you will like the Railroad Museum of Oklahoma. Within the museum compound, there are six cabooses from railroads that have served Enid (Union Pacific, BNSF, Grain Belt), a baggage car, motor cars, a three-dome tank car, and a 50-ton engine.
< Enid, OK MuseumsHistoric Churches
The Alva Friends Church was established in 1901 and located at this spot in 1919 as Alva's first Church. The Fire Bell was Fire Bellplaced in this church in Wichita, Kansas, in 1893, and was moved to Alva, Oklahoma, in 1895.
Alva, OK Historic ChurchesRose Hill School
The Rose Hill School is a furnished one-room country school built in 1895. In schools like this one, students received their eduction from the first through the eighth grade. Rose Hill School was moved to the museum grounds in 1971.
Perry, OK Historic SchoolhousesNorthwestern Oklahoma State Museum
Northwestern Oklahoma State University Museum houses one of the top taxidermic bird collections in the United States and also has natural history exhibits, fossils, and Indian artifacts.
Alva, OK MuseumsCultural Center Museum & Visitors Center
The Ponca City Cultural Center Museum is the former home of Ernest Whitworth Marland, tenth Governor of Oklahoma, who came to Ponca City to visit the 101 Ranch. He remained to build a vast oil empire. He was the founder and president of Marland Oil Company, now Conoco Inc.
Ponca City, OK Museums
Washita Battlefield National Historic Site
Washita Battlefield National Historic Site protects and interprets the site of the Southern Cheyenne village of Peace Chief Black Kettle that was attacked by the 7th U.S. Cavalry under Lt. Col. George A. Custer just before dawn on November 27, 1868
Cheyenne, OK BattlesitesGenealogy Section, Library
The Guymon Public Library has an extensive Genealogy Section that includes area newspaper from pre-statehood to the present on microfilm. There is also an extensive Native American genealogy area;
Guymon, OK Genealogy