Things To Do In Nebraska City Part 1 of?
As you read this, let it be known that the region C staff is hard at work planning this years Region C Rally at Camp Catron in Nebraska City. As you can see from the photo here, things are not ready yet. They are going to have all this white flakey stuff all cleaned up. There are also a lot of bare trees right now which all need leaves by the time the rally begins. Don't worry though, Nebraska City is home of Arbor Day and although many leaves will be required, there will be plenty of staff on hand to get this done.
Many moons back (probably the mid 1800's) a guy named J Sterling Morton arrived in this area (14) to call it home and sell salt. I hear that the area was pretty bare of trees when he arrived. I read that, I wasn't really around at the time to witness it.
He built a small home on a hill and as time went on he kept adding on to it. Eventually he ended up with a 50 room mansion complete with a bowling alley and a carriage house. You can tour this house for a small fee and see how he lived (times weren't all that bad apparently). He even built an observatory on the roof where he could view the stars. Sadly, I was informed that this has been closed permanently and I don't understand why. You can stand at the bottom of the stairs and gaze up there and wonder about it if you want to.
The house sits on a 72 acre plot of land now filled with trees. We can only imagine how all those trees got there but remember before Mr. Morton got there is was pretty bare.
Now days the site is a state historical park and the freakiest thing about this entire park is this bench that they place around a statue of Mr. Morton himself. If you can see in the photo the bench is very large. They call this whispering bench. Why will become clear when you use the buddy system.
If you sit on one end of the bench and have your buddy sit anywhere else on the bench (say for instance the other end) and that person whispers something to themself (yes outloud), you'll be able to hear it like they're sitting right next to you. Call it freaky, I certainly did.
Across the street to the West of the Morton House is an Apple Orchard (50) where you can have a piece of apple pie, shop for gifts, take a walking trail hike (under trees), visit a tree house, buy apple wine and even watch them sort apples on this strange contraption in the back room (just to name a few). More on this another time.
Nebraska City is a short ride from Omaha and we frequent this town at least once a year to stock up on apples and apple wine. It's never a dull trip for us even though we've been there so many times. My wife Laura is hooked on the antique apples. She has her favorite ones all picked out and looks for them when she gets there. I have to admit, they are pretty good. Last year we brought home two full bags of apples on the bike and had apple pie for 2 weeks straight. They make great gifts.
Oh yea...just a little tidbit of information you didn't need to know...I also attended J. Sterling Mortons School in Omaha. Now rest easy and plan your trip to Nebraska City for the Rally this Summer. See ya there.