School Groups

Our school field trips are at the crown jewel of our education programs! Check these photos out to see how much fun we have!

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Summer Camp

Our 2009 summer camps were so much fun that we are ready to do it again! Watch our website http://www.awhc.org/ for the 2010 summer camp schedule, complete with new day camps! Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

How to Feed a Buffalo in 5 Easy Steps

Once Upon a Time...

Do you remember the scariest story that you ever heard? Was it around a campfire? Were you in the woods? What was it that sent chills down your spine? My father used to tell "The Golden Arm" story perfectly, always succeeding in getting a shriek or two. By the time I was a teenager (this is Nelda, the AWHC education coordinator writing), the hook story and the hitchhiker ghost story didn't do much for me. But I will never forget the night that I heard a friend summarize Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum." The woods were dark, the fire was dying, and I suddenly was that man in the pit, the walls getting smaller and smaller. Steals my breath just thinking about it.

Prepare to be thrilled AND chilled by the scary stories of the 2009 Haunted Hallow, brought to you by the American West Heritage Center and the famous Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.

What's that you say? Scary stories from the Grimms? Thanks to countless cultural forces (including Mr. Walter Disney), many people today are unfamiliar with the stories that the Brothers Grimm published in Germany between the years 1812 and 1857. The brothers' Kinder- und Hausmarchen contained tales based on the stories they collected from many people over decades of research. Contrary to popular belief, the tales we know as the Grimms' "Little Red Cap" and "Cinderella" and "Rumpelstiltkin" are not exactly the tales that working class or peasant Germans had passed down for generations through oral retellings. It turns out that even those peasants from the Black Forest weren't THAT strange.

The Brothers Grimm were intrigued by the stories and other bits of verbal culture that made Germans who they were. During the Grimms' lifetime, German scholars of all kinds were searching for anything that could define a German identity in the face of a very tumultuous time for the growing nation. France was trying to edge its way into German areas, French was the language deemed by many of the upper class to be the fashionable language to speak, and everyone wondered where Germany could fit into this big scheme of things.

To find this fit, scholars such as the Grimms began collecting folktales and folksongs, thinking that they would find The Original German Identity in the things the very simple, "uneducated" folk passed on to each other. After the Grimms collected their tales, they set themselves on the very curious work of "polishing" these tales to fit the "Christian" ideals, traditional family patterns, and a kind of quaintness that they believed the German folk should portray. The original tales were propped up, fluffed up, tidied up, and cutsy-ed up to convey what the Grimms thought Germans (and eventually German children) should know about themselves.

And what do we learn from these tales today? Why do we keep telling them? Ask yourselves these questions as you wander down our Haunted Hollow this year, which opens tomorrow (Friday, October 9 at 7:30pm). Due to the original Grimm-ness of this hollow, we would ask you to send your small children to the hay jump or pirate ship kids' maze while you go through. Or, you can arrive at 7pm, at which time our volunteer haunters will not be wearing masks or scaring people, and little ones can see the creepy decorations without the whole show. The Haunted Hollow will run Fridays and Saturdays throughout October until the 30th. (There will be no Haunted Hollow on Halloween night.) The haunted path will open at 7:30pm and the last ticket will be sold at 10:15pm.

It's a turkey! It's a chicken! No, it's a Muscovy!

If you have ever visited the American West Heritage Center and taken a stroll around the 1917 Jensen Historical Farm, you might have encountered these odd-looking creatures. You can find them waddling among the ducks, turkeys, chickens, and peacocks that call our farm site home. Farm interpreters often overhear visitors trying to guess what bird this might be-- what kind of turkey waddles? What kind of duck doesn't quack?

Allow us to introduce to you the Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata). This quack-less duck is originally native to Central and South America, but now calls North America and parts of Europe home. Though the common name may lead you to believe that these ducks came from Russia, no one actually knows how they came to be called "Muscovies." (They are also known as Barbary Ducks, but they're not native to northern Africa either.) Muscovies eat the same bugs and plants that regular ducks do, and our small flock of bumpy-faced birds contentedly join the other farm birds in a daily breakfast of grain.

Throughout the summer you could find various Muscovy hens nesting in our horse barn, sometimes to the dismay of our volunteer cow-milkers. One hen insisted on laying her eggs right next to the milking staunchion, and it took her a week to catch on that an animal 120 times heavier than she belonged there. Another Muscovy hen and a brown and white turkey nested right next to each other in the barn (in a section dubbed "the maternity ward"), and when the Muscovy chicks hatched, the turkey took to thinking that she was their mom too. While the chicks were still young and yellow, they could be seen paddling around the puddle in the corral, their turkey mom standing close by.

Our Muscovies are friendly, but if you come to visit, please respect their space! Nesting Muscovy moms will not hesitate to go for your ankle if you get too close, and little yellow chicks need to stay with their mothers (as cute as they are). If you're interested in taking some Muscovies home with you, stop in at the front desk to ask about prices. Our Farmtastic Fall festivities will be starting September 19th, providing many opportunities to get to know our Muscovy ducks. See you soon!

The Train Has Arrived!!!

The long wait is over and the train has arrived! Manufacturer delays put us 60 days past schedule but it is good to finally tell our visitors that it is here. It will take afew days to work out the bugs but we hope that it will be up and running for the Celtic Festival this weekend. We will keep you posted on any new developments. Thank you for your patience!

Farewell to Three Friends

In the past few days, three familiar faces have left us for other opportunities. I suspect that they won't be total strangers and that we'll see them once in a while, but we wish them well on their journeys through life! David Winkler has been with us for several years as a volunteer. He worked as a Mountain Man for several years, and was so engaging to folks of all ages. He's terrific! David, thanks so much for all you've done. Jennifer Bailey was our Staff Programming Coordinator for over a year. She helped schedule staff and interpretive activities on all of our sites. She is friendly, energetic, and amazing! Jen, your service here is much appreciated! Best of luck at your new position! Olan Mikkelsen was our Large Group Coordinator and also a Mountain Man. He was known at the Mountain Man site for his fun stories and energetic, hands-on presentations. Large groups loved his care and enthusiasm. He has taken a wonderful career opportunity with the Veterans Administration. Thanks for the fantastic work you've done, Olan! You set a high standard! We will miss you all very much. Thanks for being our friends!