Sunday, September 18, 2022

Wyoming Territorial Prison

 Last Saturday we headed out to a Quilt show... only to find out that it had been cancelled due to weather. Whats a girl to do? Keep going north....

The Wyoming Archeological Society was putting on a History Day at the Wyoming Territorial Prison - and we thought - why not... lets keep going....

(PS my son was working at it but he did not know we were coming)

Oh by the way - there are a lot of photos in this post.... As usual I can't pick just three!!!
But the clouds - you can see the weather that put a damper on the Quilt show.


So we got to the Prison and surprised my son - while we were annoying him for 3 minutes -( he truly had NO break during the day) we saw the Indian dancers come out - 

Oh man!! I have seen photos, but never live... it was SO cool!




and you know as a lover of crazy fabrics.... this dancers outfit intrigued me!!!


So this woman did a dance that made her skirts sway and sound like bells


Black and White thrown in to cleanse your color palette



This young man did a Grass Dance. When the tribes would come upon a new place to set up camp, they did this dance prior to setting up. I assumed it was to flatten the ground a bit , and check for snakes, but he said it was more spiritual in tying themselves to the land.




Dancing fascinates me... I have no rhythm



This is the fort surrounding  the Prison


We saw a demonstration on tanning hides, and getting them ready to use for clothing. It was quite labor intensive, and the hides are quite fragile until smoked.  


A demonstration on Forging and Blacksmithing. this guy was awesome, he knew so much stuff, and was really fun to listen to. He even encouraged the shy kids to ask questions!!



The Prison Wagon - above.... below the inside of it. 
There is a Reason that Man is inside... keep reading!!

I'm not a fan of small spaces - so I just kinda looked inside


Another Prision wall
I loved the lookouts!


We didn't spend a lot of time in the Prison because I wanted to see all the exhibits from the Wyoming Archeological Society - and they had an Atlatl throw ( kind of like throwing spears... I wanted to try)


But look!!! NO QUILTS!!!! I guess prisoners were just allowed to keep warm, not pretty!!!

and in the kitchen they had wheat from Greeley ( I live east of Greeley)  that was fun to see!

The in processing room had an old camera.... Isn't that cool?





The prison cell. I am 5'10" and hit the top of my head walking in. Of course, I did not stay - I went in, backed out and took a photo.... dang they were tight spaces!!!



They had food Vendors there - Indian Tacos and Ice Cream... K would not buy me Ice Cream because it was too cold - so they came and LOCKED him up!!!



It was a really fun time. My son did the Virtual Reality Tours of the Dig site that he worked at this summer. Of course, I had to take the tour . It was really cool, he could show you the places they worked and the things that they found. The way the processed the artifacts and more.

There were a LOT of kids, and he is SO good with kids. One little girl let us know that this was mainly for kids, not adults like me.... When I told her I was a tall 12 year old she wasn't sure what to think. But! I wasn't missing out... so apparently I am still a kid haha!!!


Linking to:

Through My Lens    My Corner of the World

13 comments:

Vicki in MN said...

You always find great places to see, thank you for sharing them with us!

Elizabeth V Kelbaugh said...

Sounds like the missed quilt show ended being a fun trip.

Sandy said...

I really enjoyed this post. Its a treat to see the traditional Native American dances performed. I love that they are making traditional costumes with contemporary fabrics! (Someone must have got a deal on that red polka dot …) I’ve never seen an old Western prison. What a unique experience.

sue s said...

I agree with Vicki- We'll have to spend more time in Wyoming next time we are driving through!

Quiltdivajulie said...

When our guys were in Scouts (both Eagles), the OA dancers were so interesting to watch. The woman’s skirt sounded like bells because those were bells sewn to her skirt (lots of times the bells were on the leggings or shoes/boots). Thanks for all the photos … fascinating event (better than a formal quilt show IMHO.

Delighted Hands said...

Thanks for sharing the trip with us--I loved seeing the photos! I've seen the Indian dances in person, I will never forget.

Paulette said...

What a neat experience! Enjoyed the pictures and stories. Thanks for sharing them!

Klara said...

quite an experience. I enjoyed the post.

cityquilter grace said...

great post and very interesting to this yankee gal...and that's a jingle dress that makes the bells sound...must have been awesome!

Bonnie said...

Sounds all very interesting. Thanks for sharing so many pictures. Those small places would drive me crazy….

Pisi Prkl said...

Just plain great. Would love to see this in person. Always liked Indian better than Cowboys.

Bernie Kringel said...

a tall 12 year old.... Hahahaha!
What a cool trip - thanks for the photos - they are super interesting.
Hope your husband learned his lesson. Next time I am betting he buys the ice cream.

Anonymous said...

A tall 12 year old, lol 😂😂