Old Abilene Town

(Abilene, KS) Hi 89 Lo 60 –  (Jim)  Today was our last day in Abilene, so we spent some time driving around town to see the sights. It was a beautiful day for it, bright, sunny and warm, with a light breeze.

We mentioned in a previous post that Abilene was the end point of the Chisholm Trail. This  historical marker explains the history of the town very well. (Click to enlarge.)


Downtown, just a block from the Eisenhower Library, is Old Abilene Town.


It’s a small one-block area with a reproduction of how the town looked in the 1800’s. They put on a wild west show with can-can girls every Saturday, but today it was quiet and we had the whole place to ourselves.




This little church has a small cemetery next to it. Here’s views from both sides, and the interior.






Another view of the street.


This carriage house is the only stated original building.


Here’s its story.


Inside was this beautiful old stage coach.


After walking around Old Abilene Town, we drove around current Abilene. The town is very old, but beautiful and charming. The buildings are old, but well preserved.


This is typical of the beautiful old homes all over town.


Dee spotted an antique shop that she wanted to check out. It looked like a small shop from the outside, but once we got inside we discovered it was three floors crammed with all kinds of old stuff.






This Juke Box was playing music as we walked through.

We looked around for a while, and Dee found one small kitchen item that she didn’t know she needed until she saw it. :)

While downtown we looked for a geocache that was hidden near the town Visitors Center. We looked and looked but never did find it. But we did stop in at the center and talked a bit with the nice lady there. Everyone in this town is so friendly!

We had one more stop before heading home. Russell Stover Candies has a big plant a few miles west of town, and we were told by several people to be sure to visit their on-site store. This cute chocolate bear was keeping guard outside the store.


We went inside and instantly we were overwhelmed by a wonderful chocolate aroma! The store was a typical large candy store, with boxes of but we were really surprised when we went to the rear of the store and through a door to their clearance room. Oh… my… goodness! The room was huge, and everything was 75% off the original price.


Most of the clearance items were in holiday boxes (mostly Valentines hearts). Hey, do we care what the box looks like? Heck no!


As we browsed and chose a few boxes, we both thought about my mom. She’s a chocolate lover and would love this place. Wish you were here with us mom!

We had a coupon for 20% off our purchase, which we were surprised to find out we could use on the clearance items. We walked out with a bag weighing at least five or six pounds, and it cost us 20 bucks and change. What a deal! If you’re ever passing through Kansas on I-70, be sure to stop at Exit 272. You won’t regret it.

We returned home to rest for a couple of hours, then went to a highly recommended local place for dinner, Mr. K's Farmhouse. Years ago it was know as Lena's, and was Dwight D. Eisenhower's favorite place to eat when he lived here. I had a ribeye stead and Dee had shrimp stir-fry. Both were excellent! They sure know how to do steaks here in the heartland.

Tomorrow we're on the move again, back to Nebraska to spend a few days with our good friends Mike and Terri. Can't wait to see them!