1. John Brown Statue and Memorial Plaza 2. Walk through the Archaeological Ruins QUINDARO VIRTUAL TOUR Creek, Woods, and River 4. Views of 19th and 20th Century Buildings 5. Quindaro Park and Cemeteries 6. Western University Path through the Quindaro Woods A rough and uneven stony pathway will take you from the upper Quindaro town site to the Missouri River where the famous Quindaro Free State port-of-entry wharf was located. This is approximately a distance of two miles. Quiverian Yearbook Photo 1927. Courtesy USD #500 Pathway 1998. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. Beginning of path through the Quindaro Woods. As you walk down the path you will see tall grasses, weeds, shrubs, vines, and delicate colored Kansas wildflowers. Wildflowers and Insects. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. The insects will be active. Don't be surprised if you feel the bite of a mosquito. Be careful and look for spider webs spun on low lying tree limbs. You will often see spiders hanging from their web strings. Listen for the insect sounds such as the buzz of the bee or the noisy droning sound of the cicada. If you look around you, at eye level and down toward the ground you may see insect life such as: centipedes and millipedes, catepillars, mosquitoes, butterflies, ants, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, houseflies, junebugs, praying mantis, and the walkingstick. Watch and listen for the activity in the tall grasses and weeds. Frogs and toads may be hopping in the grass. Be careful where you step for tan shelled turtles may be camouflaged on the stony path with their heads, tails, and feet tucked under their hard shells. Can you locate the camouflaged turtle? Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. Look for signs of small animal habitation: tracks on soft moist ground, runways in the grass or woods, broken nut shells at the base of the trees, ridges on the surface of the ground, holes in the ground, hollow places in trees, and nests of grass in fields or hedgerows. Some small animals to look for in the Quindaro woods are squirrels, opposums, rabbits, and turtles. Occasionally, deer can be seen in the woodland. Quindaro Creek There were five streams rambling through the lower Quindaro townsite. Now the most noticeable one is Quindaro Creek. It has crystal clear water through which one can see the brightly colored pebbles in its rock bed as it meanders through Old Quindaro. You can stand on a bridge and watch the creek lazily flow and listen to its gentle murmur. Foot Bridge 1998. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. Quindaro Creek 1998. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. If you follow the creek's course you will see it pass through the woods and flow to the Missouri River. The Woods You will hear rustling in the trees and see many different species of birds. Some birds you may see in the Quindaro woods are the bluejay, cardinal, crow, dove, meadowlark, robin, sparrow, woodpecker, and hummingbird. As you walk through the Quindaro woods, white, gray, and brown-barked trees tower over you. White Barked Trees 1998. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. Quindaro Woodland 1998. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. When you reach the woodland at the Missouri River you will be shaded by trees blocking out the sunlight. You will be in a forest or what the Quindaro pioneers called a woodland. It is cool and damp and there will be fallen limbs and trees. You will not hear the chopping of wood or the felling of trees as in the time of Old Quindaro. Nor will you hear the workings of the busy sawmill that existed then. These sounds have long been silenced. Fallen Trees Summer 1998. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. Quindaro Woods in Winter. Photos from 1927 Quiverian Yearbook. Courtesy USD #500. Happy Hollow As you walk through the woods you will come to what tradition has identified as Happy Hollow. Happy Hollow is the area located in the valley where fugitive (escaped) slaves would rejoice. Fugitive slaves knew that if they made it from Missouri to Happy Hollow, a small meadow in the Quindaro valley, they were in Kansas Territory, and they were a free man, woman or child. Happy Hallow 1998. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. Mound 1998. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. As you continue to follow the Quindaro Creek through the woodland to the Missouri River, you can walk on a mound (earth raised high for protection or concealment). Tradition says that underneath this mound there was a tunnel that was used to hide escaped slaves until they could be transported to other underground railroad sites and freedom. Continuing to follow the creek, you will see it pass under a railroad bridge as it gains momentum and stops being a trickle and pours forth as a stream with its murmur becoming a rumble. Quindaro Creek ends as it passes through what used to be the original Quindaro wharf and then empties into the blue Missouri River. Quindaro Creek 1998. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. The creek passes through what is believed to be pier pillars of what was the original Quindaro wharf. Pier Pillars 1998. Photos contributed by Bill Slaughter. The original wire is still twisted around what was once one of the wharf's support beams. Missouri River Missouri River at Quindaro 1998. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. Your view of the Missouri River as you look through the trees in the woodland. The bank of the Missouri river is the end of your descent into the Quindaro valley's lower townsite. Bank of the Missouri River at Quindaro 1998. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. I-635 Highway at Quindaro 1998. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. Look to the right and you will see I-635 Highway as it bypasses Old Quindaro then crosses the Missouri River. Look to your left and see the river flow between the Parkville and Quindaro shores where the Quindaro-Parkville Ferry traveled before the Civil War. Parkville, Missouri across from Quindaro 1998. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. As you stand near Quindaro's wharf, look into the river; tradition says that at this point in the river you may be standing near the site where the Quindaro-Parkville Ferry was sunk by pro-slavery forces because it was used to carry slaves to freedom. Some guided tours stop at this spot for a moment of silence in respect for all those who died for freedom's sake on the river between the Kansas and Missouri shores. In the river you may see boats or barges passing by a now lonely and empty wharf area which used to have many steamboats docked at it. Barge on the River. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. Today there is little river traffic to be seen passing the Quindaro wharf area. You may see a stationary barge in the Missouri River dredging sand from the river to be used during the snowstorms of the upcoming winter season, or a solitary boat slowly moving on the river. The walk back to the upper townsite will seem like a long one. You will be hot, tired, and thirsty, but the sights and memories of Quindaro's woods and the Missouri River will have been worth the exertion. Pathway leading out of the Quindaro Woods 1998. Photo contributed by Bill Slaughter. Quindaro-Western University Visitor Information Regarding access to the Quindaro Site. Regarding historical sites in Kansas City, Kansas and Wyandotte County Kansas - Kansas City, Kansas Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Nineteenth Century Use of Trees Trees Trees played an important role in the establishment of Old Quindaro. Trees were cut down to construct buildings and houses, for cooking and heating, to build ships and ferries, barrel making, furniture making, wagons, and stagecoaches. Clarina I.H. Nichols was an early Quindaro pioneer, abolitionist, and women's rights advocate. From the two newspaper articles which appear below it is evident that she was also a conservationist and lover of nature. Spare The Trees We used to enjoy the ring of the wood man's axe; but it is quite another thing when he strikes into the beautiful tree, that both ornaments and shades. Have our gentlemen town plotters and surveyors taken any measures to preserve fine trees standing on the lines of streets and avenues? They will do well to recollect that in the cities East of us appropriations are not infrequently made to supply the deficiency of trees caused by the neglect of those to whom the first care of the shade trees properly belonged. Shade trees are universally regarded as an inviting feature in the crowded city or the roomy villa. Clarina I. H. Nichols Chindowan 5/30/1857 A Green Bough Do our sister citizens know how beautiful are the woods of Quindaro? If they have not penetrated the undisturbed portions of the town plat and its environs, we beg them to do so at once, before the wood man fells the grand old trees and works the ruin of beauty which it has taken ages to perfect. The contrast between Art and Nature, town and country is never more keenly felt than in passing from the rude conditions and unsightly elements of the new settlement, into the midst of primeval forests and June draped prairies. We took a ramble the other day, in the direction indicated, and brought back to our close, crowded room memories that have shaded us from the burning sun and breathed fragrance and music around us ever since. As we sit in our one room, thought wanders off from our busy hands to the wood-path, where refreshing breezes play among the dense foliage, birds sing in happy concert, and the fragrance of flowers fills the air. We are oblivious, for the time being, of the petty annoyances of unaccustomed conditions and associations. Even yearnings for the companionship of those who knowing all our faults do love us still, are hushed. The consecrated memories of the past, in subdued joys, its soul chastening sorrows meet us in that forest temple, 'neath the ivy-wreathed oak, and we listen oh, how rapt! To the thousand voices chanting sweet and well-remembered strains. But they come not alone-the lost joy, the soul-chastening sorrow. No, they bring with them Heaven's peace; faith and love are at the trysting and Hope's glorious arch spans the unbridged future. Go to the grand old woods, sisters, go, and gather cool shadows, and music of bird and bee, the beauty of climbing vine, and cling ivy, and forget the weariness of the toil and the disorder of the path of progress. If the curse of Cain be not on us, the earth will yield unto us her strength. The fields may not be ours, the crops may not enrich us, but if from our hearts wells up the deep, broad human love that lifts up our brother and cries our Father, we will build and none shall destroy, we will have peace and none shall disquiet us. Clarina I.H. Nichols Chindowan 6/27/1857 Trees in Wyandotte County When Wyandotte County was being organized and towns being established, the following trees could be found in the county: ash, bass wood, cottonwood, elm (red and white), hackberry, hickory, ironwood, Kentucky coffee bean, mulberry, oak (black, burr, and red), and sycamore. Native nut trees were hazel, hickory, and walnut. Perl W. Morgan The History of Wyandotte County Kansas 1911 Some Leaf The other day we pulled a sycamore leaf, the margin which measured five feet and eight inches. It measured transversely in three ways, 14 ½ , 15, and 15 ½ inches grew near our office where a tree was cut down last spring and attained this size in less than three months. John M. Walden, editor Chindowan 9/5/1857 Wildflowers When pioneers began settling in the Quindaro area, there were more than two hundred species of native flowers, annuals and perennials which included: blazing star, bleeding heart, goldenrod, hardy asters, immortelles, iris, larkspur, milkweed, moon flower, morning glory, peas, phlox, shaster daisy, tiger lily, verbena, and violets, and others. Perl W. Morgan The History of Wyandotte County Kansas 1911 Untitled We have received a very handsome bouquet--the first of the season here--through the kindness of a friend. This delicately arranged cluster of flowers is a sweet and welcome remembrance of home scenes far eastward. John M. Walden, editor Chindowan 6/13/1857 Fruit Preserving Elizabeth May Dickinson arrived in Quindaro in April of 1859. In her diary dated April 29 she wrote, "We go to Mr. Guthrie's where they have an abundance of everything--nice apple and peach trees, strawberry beds and everything that is pleasant to the sight and good for food." On August 4 she wrote, "Have been making preserves, sweet pickles and jelly." Perhaps she found an abundance of fruit as mentioned in the following newspaper article. Fruits In Kanzas When we turned our steps toward Kanzas, with a view of making it an abiding place, we hardly expected that during the season of fruits, melons, etc., we should find an abundance of such luxuries here. But in this section of Kanzas, at least, we can assure persons in the States, who are luxuriating upon the delicacies of the season, that our good people are scarely less favored than they. For a fortnight past there has been an abundance of peaches; for a much longer time there has been a constant supply of watermelons and muskmelons, and those who enjoy good apples have not wished for them without an opportunity to gratify their desire. The peaches here are the finest flavored it has ever been our good fortune to have tasted. They may not be so large and beautiful as the more highly cultivated kinds in the States, but they are large enough for all practical purposes, whilst their delicious flavor more than compensates for any deficiency in size, if from six to eight inches in circumference be considered rather diminutive. But the watermelons! - their size is only equaled by their richness. To find them weighing from thirty to fifty pounds is a matter of no very rare occurrence. The apples are not equal to those in the States, but we have not been advised of its being difficult to find plenty of persons who think them very good. And when persons get sated with these orchard and garden luxuries, they can go to the woods and provoke an appetite by wild plums, which are large, red and luscious, and wild grapes which hang in ponderous and purple bunches, tempting and beautiful. To friends in the States, Kanzas seems a far-off and uncultivated land, but we can assure them that as regards these delicious bounties, this portion of the Territory is far from being beyond the pale of civilization. We regret that this condition is not more general. In a large proportion of Kanzas, the planting of orchards and tilling of gardens, have remained for the white emigrant to perform, but here a dozen of more years ago the Wyandott Indians settled, and brought with them from the olden homes in Ohio, those tastes and habits there acquired, which now have for their results grain fields and orchards, gardens and homes. To these, the Indian pioneers, we are now indebted for many of the good things we enjoy. Our proximity to Missouri, also, enables us to draw upon her, so that our citizens may fare more sumptuously than they could have expected to when they started for Kanzas. John M. Walden, editor Chindowan 9/19/1857 Cold Weather Whoever came to Kanzas with a belief that they would entirely escape cold weather, have within the past week found that they had been cherishing a barren hope. Long after dark last Wednesday night the mud was deep and plastic. A cold wind set in, and Thursday morning the roads were frozen hard enough to bear up teams. All Thursday and Thursday night it was intensely cold. The wind was piercing and frosty, and piped incessantly through the naked trees and over the barren hills. The citizens of Quindaro now realize one of the practical advantages of their location in the midst of an extensive tract of woodland. John M. Walden, editor Chindowan 11/21/1857