Nebraska Life Magazine September-October 2025

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

KIMMEL ORCHARD

A BELOVED WORKING FARM BLOOMS THROUGH 100 YEARS OF HARVEST

TANKS WITH TALES

HOW UTILITY BECOMES LOCAL IDENTITY

GAME DAY 3 WINNING RECIPES THAT SCORE POINTS +

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

FEATURES

22 Justice on the Tracks

How Sidney, a rough and tumble frontier town, gained its reputation as the “Lynching Capital of Nebraska” in the fall of 1875. by Loren Avey 24 Tanks with Tales

Four water towers in Oshkosh, York, Ogallala and Indianola become extraordinary storytellers of community pride and place. by Ariella Nardizzi

30 Heritage Highway

From the banks of the Missouri in Brownville westward to Edison, Highway 136 blends stunning fall foliage with a rich pioneer heritage. story and photography by Joshua Hardin

44 A Century in Bloom

Looking back at 100 years of Nebraska City’s beloved Kimmel Orchard & Vineyard. Generations of family traditions blossom on the 90-acre working farm. by Ron J. Jackson, Jr.

DEPARTMENTS

11 Editor’s Letter

A perspective from the desk of Chris Amundson. 12 Flat Water News

Louise Doole’s herb garden; the philosophy behind Nebraska’s State Capitol; Richardson County’s rich history; the phantom of Chadron State College.

20 Trivia

Only in Omaha – here are 15 questions about the Gateway to the West. Answers on page 58.

DEPARTMENTS

38 Kitchens

These game day dips score big every time.

42 Poetry

Our poets glean verses from the land, echoing harvest, heritage and heart.

50 Museums

Big or small, these museum advertising partners preserve Nebraska history and heritage for all to experience.

56 Traveler

All aboard the North Pole Express at Stuhr Museum this November; the Durham Museum commemorates 50 iconic years in Omaha.

60 Naturally Nebraska

Alan J. Bartels’ reflections remind us to seize time outdoors with loved ones.

62 In the Wild Fun “quacks” about mallard ducks, the most widespread waterfowl on earth.

ON OUR COVER

Evening light sets Nebraska’s sky aglow as corn stalks rise near the familiar white barn along I-80 by Ashland – a calm moment of rural grace beneath a boundless horizon.

BY NIA KARMANN

PHOTOGRAPH

Above: Danelle McCollum; Aj Dahm

Page 7: Ryan Linton; Joshua Hardin; Kimmel Orchard

Chadron pg. 19

Oshkosh pg. 26

Burwell pg. 60

York pg. 27

Nebraska City pg. 44

Brownville pg. 32

Fairbury pg. 35

Alma pg. 36

Red Cloud pg. 36

Edison pg. 36

Falls City pg. 17 Auburn pg. 32

Omaha pg. 57

Lincoln pg. 12, 15

Tecumseh pg. 32

Beatrice pg. 35

Indianola pg. 29

Grand Island pg. 56

Sidney pg. 22

Ogallala pg. 28

Fuel your sense of adventure in Cass County, where exploring the wonders of our state parks is just the beginning. Dive into thrilling wildlife safaris, experience glamping under the stars, and wander through quaint local shops lled with treasures. Don't miss out on unforgettable events that celebrate community and culture. Experience the extraordinary, where every moment promises excitement and exploration. Funded in part by Cass County Tourism. Discover all this and more at VisitCassCounty.com! Check out our free brown bag speaker programs listed on our website.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

Volume 29, Number 5

Publisher & Editor Chris Amundson

Associate Publisher Angela Amundson

Photo Coordinator Erik Makić

Staff Writer Ariella Nardizzi

Design Mark Del Rosario

Editorial Assistant Savannah Dagupion

Advertising Sales Sarah Smith

Subscriptions Shiela Camay

Social Media Manager Lucy Walz

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The Last Cutting

THIS HARVEST SEASON, the signs of change are written across the land. Fields once green now stand gold as combines move steadily through the rows. Wagons creak along rutted roads, and farmyards fill with the smell of dust, grain and long hours of work.

I remember early fall days with my dad, finishing the last cutting of prairie hay. He drove the old Oliver tractor while I stacked bales on the wagon and sent them up the conveyor to the hayloft. The growl of the engine, the sting of hay dust and the soft chill of evening air hinting at colder days ahead all marked the end of the season. It was work, and it was reward.

That mix of grit and gratitude runs through this issue. Our poets write of harvest in plain language, reminding us how deeply the land and its people remain tied together.

On Highway 136, autumn shows itself mile after mile. From the Missouri in Brownville to Edison in the west, “Heritage Highway” links steamboat towns, pioneer trails and prairie churches, a road lined with history and memory.

In Nebraska City, Kimmel Orchard & Vineyard marks a century of fruit and family. From Armistice Day blizzards to German POW laborers turned neighbors, the orchard has weathered many seasons of loss and renewal featured in “A Century of Bloom.” Today it presses cider, welcomes hayrack rides and hosts research that looks ahead, always rooted in tradition while producing something new.

In Sidney, history reaches back to a violent autumn on the Old West frontier when fear and justice once collided. As historian Loren Avey recounts in “Justice on the Tracks,” the town earned the grim title of “Lynching Capital of Nebraska” during three long days at the end of October 1875. That time in Sidney’s history was short-lived, however. Today, Sidney is a safe and welcoming place, inviting us to explore its past and the vibrant, resilient town it has become.

Elsewhere across the state, imagination turns even the simplest landmarks into symbols. Nebraska’s water towers, like Oshkosh’s tin man or Ogallala’s UFO, rise above the land in “Tanks with Tales.” They are practical, yes, but also reminders of the pride towns take in making something useful their own.

Together these stories echo a truth known to every farm and ranch family: harvest is more than gathering crops. It is labor, memory and hope carried forward.

As the days shorten and the air turns crisp, may you find your own harvest – in bales and bushels, in stories and in moments worth saving. And with the holidays coming, consider sharing Nebraska Life – a gift of home that lasts all year.

CHRIS AMUNDSON Publisher & Editor editor@nebraskalife.com

Noteworthy news, entertaining nonsense

A Garden for Louise

Pioneers Park honors a woman whose passion for herbs continues to bloom.

BY KRISTIN DAHL

At the heart of Lincoln’s Pioneers Park Nature Center, visitors step through vine-covered arbors into the Louise Evans Doole Herb Garden. The fragrance of rosemary, lavender and thyme fills the air, mingling with the gentle trickle of a water fountain and the rustle of leaves in the breeze. Adirondack chairs invite passersby to pause and breathe.

The garden is more than a retreat. It’s a tribute to Louise Evans Doole – a writer, editor and herb enthusiast whose passion for growing and sharing plants touched

countless lives. Established in 1972 by her husband, Professor Howard Doole, the garden honors Louise’s love of herbs and her gift for turning them into something to be shared, whether in bottles of homemade vinegars for neighbors or the pages of her books.

Louise’s best-known work, Herbs: How to Grow and Use Them, circulated widely across Nebraska and beyond. Reissued under several titles, the book led to speaking invitations and established her as one of the region’s early voices in home gardening. She later wrote Herb and Garden Ideas Today, copies of her books remain on sale

at the nature center’s gift shop, steps away from the garden she inspired.

“The first herbs that went into the garden were from our house,” said her son, Bill Doole. He remembered pots lined up on the windowsill of his childhood home. Lemon balm was Louise’s favorite. “My father wanted to memorialize her in a way that reflected what she loved. That’s why the herb garden was such a perfect fit.”

Over the decades, that modest planting has flourished. Supported by the Doole Family Charitable Foundation, the Nebraska Herbal Society, Master Gardeners and devoted Nature Center staff and vol-

Candace L. Kastrup

An herb garden in Lincoln honoring writer, editor and herb enthusiast Louise Evans Doole invites visitors to pause and breathe.

FLAT WATER

unteers, the garden now nurtures more than 120 varieties. The whimsical fountain, designed by a local artist, and the layout of raised beds create an atmosphere that encourages both curiosity and calm.

“It’s really a peaceful respite for people to center themselves,” said Bruce Doole, Louise’s grandson. “When you get up there, it’s almost like a different world. The hustle and bustle of the park fades away.”

Visitors often discover that the garden is not only a sanctuary but also a classroom. Each year, programs introduce students and home gardeners to the practical uses of herbs. Guests are encouraged to rub

leaves between their fingers, breathe in the aromas and talk with staff and volunteers about plant histories.

For Bill, Bruce and granddaughter Mary, the most rewarding part of the garden is continuing Louise’s legacy of teaching. “It’s an educational experience that inspires new generations, just like my mother did with her books and talks,” Bill said.

The garden endures as both a memorial and a living extension of Louise’s passion. What began with herbs from a family home has grown into a community treasure – a place to learn, reflect and connect with nature.

More than a sanctuary, the garden serves as a hands-on classroom where visitors learn the practical uses of herbs. Guests are encouraged to rub the leaves between their fingers and breathe in the aromas. In this way, the garden continues Louise’s legacy of teaching and sharing.

Louise Evans Doole Family

Candace L. Kastrup (both)

BY ARIELLA NARDIZZI

When Josha Sietsma first met Sandhills rancher Megan Melia McNeil Helberg at an educator’s conference in New York, Nebraska was little more than a name on a map. Helberg described her family’s ranch and invited him to visit. Sietsma, a Dutchborn philosopher and educator raised in Brazil and Canada, accepted.

“It was like heaven,” he recalled of that first trip to the Sandhills. He’s returned often since, drawn back by the prairie’s quiet grandeur – and by a limestone tower in Lincoln.

Nebraska’s State Capitol rises from the plains like a stone torch, clad in limestone and crowned with the bronze Sower. Walk its perimeter and you’ll find 21 carved panels tracing 3,000 years of human striving: Moses with the Ten Commandments, the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and pioneers presenting the star that made Nebraska the 37th state.

For most Nebraskans, these carvings are familiar but unstudied. For Sietsma, they became a calling. His book, Think. Define. Choose. How 21 Stories Shaped Life in Nebraska, argues the panels aren’t just decoration but a curriculum in stone. “It’s a math equation,” he said. “If you sum up each of the 21 lessons, it makes up The Good Life.”

In 1922, architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue hired University of Nebraska professor Hartley Burr Alexander to guide the Capitol’s inscriptions. Alexander believed architecture should teach, and he filled the building with parables from scripture, myth and history to remind citizens of their democratic duties. “The salvation of the state is watchfulness in the citizen,” one doorway warns.

Sietsma, trained in philosophy and law, recognized what Alexander had done: turned a public building into a textbook. “This building is an invitation to be curious, first about yourself and your own values,” he said.

Eight years of research followed. Sietsma dug into archives, traced Alexander’s letters, and spent hours walking the Capitol’s terraces, reading stone as if it were scripture. His second edition, published on August 29, 2025, guides readers panel

Limestone Lessons

A Dutch philosopher reveals the Capitol’s quiet code

by panel. A third volume, Action. Victory. Glory., will turn to Memorial Stadium, where Alexander also left his mark.

Sietsma designed the first edition’s cover to mimic the Capitol’s stone and sized the book small enough to carry in hand. For visual learners, he created a foldable, gluefree 3D model of the Capitol.

But more than an architectural guide, the book is also a teaching tool. Sietsma closes with a section for educators on using the Capitol to explore human rights in the classroom – echoing Alexander’s belief that history should instruct.

To Nebraskans, “The Good Life” is a

motto. Sietsma believes the Capitol shows it’s also a mandate. It’s what carried a Dutch scholar from the North Sea to the Nebraska prairie – and back again to a building whose walls, he insists, are speaking.

Over a century later, the invitation still stands: read the building, and you might just understand the state.

Think. Define. Choose. Second Edition Josha Sietsma 120 pages • hardcover, $24.99 Finch Bookshop in Lincoln or 21panels.org

Chris Amundson

Richardson County: A Corner of the World

BY LISA TRUESDALE

In Nebraska, many farming counties share common threads: ancient inhabitants, the arrival of fur traders and settlers, the rise of railroads, and the challenges of rural depopulation. But in his latest book, An American Corner of the World, University of Nebraska-Lincoln emeritus professor David J. Wishart makes the case that Richardson County deserves special attention.

Bordered by the Missouri River to the east and Kansas to the south, Richardson County serves as both a microcosm of Great Plains history and a story of its own. Wishart’s book unfolds in four sections, each tracing a different era.

The opening, “Antecedents, Before 1854,” reaches back thousands of years. Wishart recounts how a farmer plowing near Half-Breed Creek in the 1980s unearthed a cache of polished stone blades crafted some 5,000 years earlier – evidence of people whose lives are largely forgotten but still present in the soil. From there, he moves through the fur traders who married into Native communities, and to settlers eager to claim the fertile land.

“Beginnings, 1854-67” covers the county’s formal establishment, while “Expansion, 1868-1930” captures the optimism of the railroad era. During that time, Wishart notes, “many farmers, having profited from high yields and crop prices, as well as rising land values, sold out and retired early in Falls City, or the newest small town, where they had time to kill, money to spend, and life to enjoy.”

The final section, “Contraction, 19312023,” follows the county through the Great Depression and into a long period of population decline, echoing trends across the Great Plains. Richardson County’s population peaked near 9,500 in 2000, before gradually receding. Today, with about 8,000 residents, the figure underscores both the

county’s resilience and the demographic shifts that ripple across the Great Plains.

So why focus on Richardson County? Wishart points to the enduring presence of the Iowa and Sac and Fox reservations in its southern reaches. Their survival, he argues, allows a fuller and more balanced account – one that blends Native endurance with settler succession. It is this interplay, he writes, that identifies Richardson County as “an intrinsically American corner of the world.”

Wishart is no stranger to telling Nebraska’s stories. He edited the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains and the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains Indians, and authored An Unspeakable Sadness: The Dispossession of the Nebraska Indians. His career has been devoted to interpreting the geography, history and people of the Plains. With An American Corner of the World, he narrows his focus to one county, but in doing so illuminates the wider forces that shaped Nebraska and the nation.

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BY CHRIS AMUNDSON

It was a moonless night in late September 1963 when the iconic “C” on the hill overlooking Chadron State College vanished. The massive white letter, a proud symbol of the school, had been mysteriously buried under three inches of dirt overnight –just hours before freshmen students were scheduled to repaint it in their annual rite of passage.

By morning, the campus buzzed with curiosity and laughter. Who could have pulled off such a bold stunt? The answer soon became clear: It was the work of The Phantom.

Shrouded in mystery and mischief, The Phantom was the brainchild of John Moulds, a clever student with a flair for theatrics. Disguised in a trench coat, gloves, sunglasses, a fedora and mummy-like Ace bandages wrapped around his face, Moulds transformed himself into the campus trickster. With the help of his loyal accomplices – Terry Thompson, Cliff Reisig, Ken Eby and Jeanne Goetzinger –Moulds masterminded a series of legendary pranks that etched their names into Chadron State College lore and remained an unsolved mystery for two decades. Covering the iconic “C” was merely their opening act.

For two months in the fall of 1963, The Phantom’s antics became the talk of the campus and the town. From spooking students on nighttime walks to dramatic appearances at campus events, the shadowy figure kept everyone guessing. One legendary moment occurred during the homecoming bonfire at C Hill. As the body of students gathered around the flames, The Phantom emerged from the darkness astride a horse and galloped across the pasture, up the hill, around the bonfire and into the night before anyone could catch him – or her – as it later became known.

Neither Moulds, Reisig or Thompson could ride a horse, so they enlisted Goetzinger, whose equestrian skills brought the spectacle to life. It was their pièce de resistance, a stunt that sealed

The Phantom of Chadron State College

their legacy. And as briskly as The Phantom’s antics swept through the community, he disappeared, never to be seen on campus again.

For years, rumors swirled about the identity of The Phantom, but the secret lay buried until 1986. That year, the Chadron State College alumni newsletter published a tell-all by Reisig, unveiling the pranksters behind the high jinks on the high plains.

Today, Goetzinger, now the owner of Olde Main Street Inn and 77 Long Branch Saloon in downtown Chadron, reconnects with the remaining members of The Phantom gang during summer reunions. After leading the group, Moulds went on to become a biotech entrepreneur before passing way in 2011. Thompson married his college sweetheart, raised a family and spent a lifetime turning wrenches and penning fiction until his passing in 2016.

“Those were different times,” Goetzinger reflected, recalling an era when a masked man could roam the campus, playing pranks and sparking laughter.

To this day, the tale of The Phantom remains a cherished memory in Chadron State College lore. It’s a testament to the enduring spirit of college life, the power of teamwork and the thrill of a little wellplanned mischief.

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Challenge your brain with our

Complete with a running of the (people dressed like) bulls, South Omaha hosts what is billed as the Midwest’s largest celebration of what spring holiday?

With a namesake attraction pulling in some 2 million visitors per year, who founded the Omaha ?

At age 26, native Omahan Symone Sanders served as the national press secretary for what popular 2016 presidential candidate?

4

Florence Mill was built in 1846 under the supervision of what famous second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

5 “Omaha” was the name given to what type of animal tranquilized in a busy Omaha intersection in 2003?

6

What Ponca chief famously (and successfully) argued for the personhood of Native Americans in U.S. District Court in Omaha in 1879?

a. Iron Eye

b. Sharitahrish

c. Standing Bear

7 According to etiquette expert and former Omaha resident Tish Baldrige, who should open the door?

a. The man

b. The woman

c. Whoever gets there first

8 What Old Market establishment boasts 50 varieties of chewing gum, 96 flavors of jelly beans and more than 200 kinds of soda pop?

a. Ted & Wally’s

b. Hollywood Candy

c. Fat Brain Toys

9 Union Station, now The Durham Museum, was completed in 1931 as what?

a. National headquarters for the Teamsters Union

b. Passenger train station

c. Western terminus of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad

10 Warren Buffett, filmmaker Alexander Payne and an actual World War II bombing by Japan are all connected with what Midtown neighborhood?

a. Benson

b. Dundee

c. Orchard Hill

11

The settlers of Omaha’s Little Bohemia neighborhood had actually been citizens of Austria and Hungary.

12

The Omaha band 311 has the same lineup as when it made its breakthrough self-titled album in 1995.

13

Heron Haven in northwest Omaha once hosted a fundraising concert by jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron.

14

Omaha’s Old Market is named for the district once known for its conglomeration of produce and grocery warehouses and distributors.

15 Dundee Dell is Omaha’s oldest restaurant still operating in its original location.

No peeking, answers on page 58.

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Alan J. Bartels

JUSTICE

ON THE TRACKS

How Sidney earned its reputation as Nebraska’s toughest frontier town in the fall of 1875

by LOREN AVEY

ON OCT. 28, 1875, the frontier town of Sidney – perched on the far western edge of Nebraska – erupted in violence that laid bare the raw justice of the Old West. Newspapers of the day recorded the events, which began as a quarrel among three locals and ended in a double lynching that cemented Sidney’s fearsome reputation on the Union Pacific line.

The Sidney Telegraph reported that a dispute between Chuck Patterson, his friend Joe Reed, and livery owner Robert W. Porter turned deadly when Patterson drew his

revolver. Three quick shots left Porter dead in the street.

Sheriff John Ellis quickly arrested Patterson and locked him in the town’s jail, a rickety structure nicknamed the “Chicken Coop.” Prisoners from the Coop were put to work digging Porter’s grave at Boot Hill, Sidney’s rough frontier cemetery.

Porter’s death rattled the town. A respected businessman, he operated the local livery stable and advertised regularly in the Telegraph, selling feed and tack to locals and travelers alike. By the next day, about 40 of his friends and customers had gathered

at the Capitol Saloon, owned by Cornelius “Con” McCarty. Fueled by drink and anger, the men railed against a legal system they believed to be corrupt – Judge D. Carrigan, who presided locally, was a close friend of McCarty’s.

With Sheriff Ellis out of town, only a single jailer stood between the mob and Patterson. The men promised him safe passage if he yielded. He stepped aside. The mob hauled Patterson to a telegraph pole near the Union Pacific tracks and hanged him. McCarty then raised a toast: “Free drinks for a job well done!”

Their triumph was short-lived. Sheriff Ellis rode back into town to find Patterson still dangling from the pole – alive. Ellis cut him down and carried him back to the Coop. Against the odds, Patterson recovered.

Unaware, the mob drank late into the night. When passing cowboys asked about the revelry, they were told of the hanging. The strangers shook their heads – there was no body on any telegraph pole. Alarmed, the mob charged back to the jail.

This time, Ellis resisted. Outnumbered, he was beaten bloody before surrendering his prisoner. Patterson was dragged once more to the pole, and the mob made sure the job was finished. His body hung for several days, a grim sight for passengers rolling through on the Union Pacific.

Sheriff Ellis, broken in body and spirit, soon left town and never returned. His replacement: Con McCarty, saloonkeeper and ringleader of the lynch mob. On Oct. 31, Patterson’s body was finally cut down and buried at Boot Hill by fellow prisoners.

The episode earned Sidney its reputation as the “Lynching Capital of Nebraska.” With its mix of soldiers from nearby Fort Sidney, railroad workers, outlaws, and a thin scattering of respectable citizens, law and order often bowed to fear and force. Irish-born figures such as McCarty and Judge Carrigan dominated the town’s rough political life.

The violence lingered in memory. Years later, in an interview reprinted from the Omaha Bee, merchant Robert O. Oberfelder recalled finding the body of Chuck Reed –Joe Reed’s brother – swinging from another telegraph pole. When he asked what happened, townspeople advised him to mind his own business.

Such was Sidney in its heyday – a frontier town where law and order often yielded to mob rule, and survival could hang by the thinnest of threads.

About the Author

Loren Avey is a Sidney historian and author of Lynchings, Legends & Lawlessness: The Story of Historical Sidney, Nebraska. His work, rooted in period newspapers and local lore, preserves the frontier tales that gave Sidney its reputation as “the toughest town on the tracks.”

A quarrel among three men in Sidney turned deadly when one shot the local livery owner and was hanged (twice) by townspeople seeking justice. Furious at a legal system they believed was corrupt, they also beat the sheriff, who was later replaced by the lynch mob’s leader. The violence cemented Sidney’s reputation as the “Lynching Capital of Nebraska.”

History Nebraska (both)

with Tales Tanks

Four Nebraska water towers that rise from utility to identity

by Ariella Nardizzi

ACROSS NEBRASKA, water towers rise from the prairie as landmarks that tell local stories. In Oshkosh, the century-old tin man tower survived near-demolition to become a community landmark. In York, a pilot’s vision turned a plain tank into a cheerful hot air balloon that greets travelers at the crossroads of I-80. In Ogallala, a UFO hovers above the plains, drawing curiosity from the highway.

Not all towers remain whole, but even ruins tell a story. At Camp Indianola, the skeletal frame of a water tower marks the site of Nebraska’s World War II prisoner-of-war camp. Together, these towers show how the most utilitarian structures can become symbols of identity and imagination across the Great Plains.

Historic Oshkosh Water Tower (left); Drake Sauer

Once slated for community demolition, Oshkosh’s 105-yearold “tin man” water tower was saved by community effort. Now restored with art, gardens and lights, it stands as the town’s cherished landmark.

Historic Oshkosh Water Tower

103 E Ave, Oshkosh

When Oshkosh’s 105-year-old “tin man” water tower was slated for demolition in 2018, Jo Lynn Petty Blackwell’s heart broke. The looming sentinel was a beloved beacon for Blackwell and about 700 residents of this Garden County community.

“It’s just not Oshkosh without the tower,” Blackwell said. “You can see it from miles in any direction. That’s how you know you’re home.”

The rare tin man-style tower was built in 1920 and played a central role in Oshkosh’s development. But when the tower became obsolete after it ceased operating in 2018, the city announced its teardown, spurring Blackwell, her husband and eight other friends to restore it.

The group formed a nonprofit and sought donations to purchase the tower from the

city. Alumni, residents and visitors initially pledged $13,000 and later exceeded that in donations, allowing the nonprofit to buy the tower in November 2018.

Blackwell, the group’s president, and members of the nonprofit got to work to make the site a gathering place. They repainted the tower and added a garden, plaza, barn quilts, metal sculpture and a mural by local artist Lauren Olson featuring a sandhill crane amid a floral background.

Four hundred commemorative bricks line the plaza below, honoring donors who helped save the tower. While collecting donations for memorial bricks, Blackwell received notes detailing family memories around this Great Plains settlement.

Some donors recalled relatives arriving in covered wagons and living in a blowout with a hide cover over the door. Another story told of a plane that dropped groceries for neighbors in the Winter of

1948-49. Blackwell compiled 150 of these stories into a book titled If These Bricks Could Talk

“The tower is a real touchstone to everyone here,” Blackwell said. It is now the first and only Nebraska water tower listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The tower was also on the WanderNebraska and Nebraska Passport programs in 2025 and won the History Nebraska Preservation Award in 2020.

The tower lights up nightly, sometimes purple in the town’s colors or holiday themed. All of Oshkosh shows out each July for Party at the Tower, a block party with live music, dancing, food and community pride.

While the tin man no longer pumps water, it still delivers something vital. With its fresh paint, glowing lights and stories etched into its bricks, the tower remains Oshkosh’s defining landmark.

Historic Oshkosh Water Tower (left); Ryan Linton

York Hot Air Balloon Water Tower

Intersection of Interstate 80 and Highway 81

At the crossroads of Interstate 80 and Highway 81, there is no mistaking York. The town’s balloon-painted water tower rises 130 feet above the prairie and has become as much a roadside icon as a reservoir, guiding travelers off the highway and into the community.

The tower wasn’t always eye-catching. Built in the early 1990s, its purpose was practical – more water capacity for firefighting and a growing city. But Marty Rousseau, a commercial pilot with a knack for big ideas, thought it deserved more than a plain coat of paint.

He served on the York County Visitors Committee in the 1980s and pitched his vision to City Council to turn the tower into a giant hot air balloon. “He thought it should be more than just a bleached blob,” said his daughter, Vicki Fairchild. “He wanted it to be something people would remember.”

York embraced the idea. In 10 days, Rousseau raised enough money to bring the balloon to life, prompting a local newspaper to run a design contest. Local Lynn Christiansen submitted the winning design, and in 1998 the tower was transformed into a striped balloon. Rousseau jokingly called it “my big balloon,” and some of his grandchildren truly believed it belonged to him.

Today, the balloon tower holds 750,000 gallons of water – roughly half the amount York uses in a day – and stands opposite the city’s other water tower, which stores an additional 1 million gallons.

The balloon remains a landmark woven into community traditions. Each July, York hosts Balloon Days, a summer festival named for its sky-high icon. And in 2016, 15 local artists reimagined the tower in miniature with personalized five-foot fiberglass versions scattered around town in a public art scavenger hunt.

Both practical and playful, York’s balloon tower is more than a water tank. It reflects the city’s pride in rising above the ordinary.

Soaring above the prairie like a hot air balloon, York’s colorful water tower transforms a practical tank into an unforgettable landmark along I-80, embodying the community’s pride in rising above the ordinary.

Eric Eckert (both)

UFO Water Tower

Big Mac Road, Ogallala

If you’re driving I-80 near Ogallala after dark, you might do a double take.

Just south of the interstate, off Exit 126, the town’s UFO water tower is painted to resemble a flying saucer readying to land. For the best effect, locals say, come after sunset – that’s when the painted portal windows glow against the night sky and the green alien peeks out, ready to beam you aboard.

The tower has been part of Ogallala’s skyline since the 1970s, but its extraterrestrial makeover came a decade later, thanks to a pair of creative locals. Newspaper editor and businessman Ed Sykes floated the idea, and longtime sign painter B.J. Reiselman made it a reality.

Perched high above town, Reiselman handled the tricky brushwork, while his father, Ben, hauled heavy buckets of paint up by rope from the ground. The result was a spaceship-shaped landmark that garnered attention from around the nation and quickly became the community’s most recognizable calling card.

Earlier this year, just shy of his 100th birthday, Reiselman passed away – but he was especially proud of the handiwork that put his town on the map.

Beneath its extraterrestrial paint job, the UFO still serves a down-to-earth purpose: supplying municipal water. The tower’s fame has even spilled into local culture. Second Chapter Brewing, housed in the old city library on West A Street, honors the icon with “Sci-Fi-PA,” a hazy IPA brewed with Vista, Galaxy and Comet hops. Husband-and-wife team Richard Gibson and Lisa Kraus co-own the community taproom.

“We love to name our beers after things that are meaningful to our community,” Kraus said about the brewery. “When I brought my future husband home to Ogallala for his first visit, we arrived late at night. The water tower was the very first thing I showed him in town.”

Quirky, practical and a tad mysterious –Ogallala’s UFO water tower shows how an ordinary structure can take flight with the right imagination.

After dark, Ogallala’s UFO water tower glows with painted portals and a green alien. Created in the 1980s, the flying-saucer tank still supplies water while serving as the town’s quirkiest landmark, proving everyday structures can soar into legend with a little imagination.

Drake Sauer

Camp Indianola

1.5 miles north of Indianola

Just 1.5 miles north of Indianola, the tallgrass prairie holds faint remnants of a world at war. A few concrete foundations, two brick chimneys and the skeletal frame of a water tower are all that’s left of Camp Indianola, one of Nebraska’s four World War II prisoner-of-war camps that ran from 1943 to 1946.

Camp Indianola opened in November 1943 and housed German soldiers captured in North Africa and Italy. The Red Willow County camp spanned 250 acres with nearly 200 buildings and space for 3,000 prisoners. At its peak, 2,549 men lived behind its fences.

The original plan was to put the prisoners to work on flood control projects, but wartime labor shortages changed that. Instead, the camp became a vital agricultural hub, contracting out POWs to work for local farmers.

For many in southwest Nebraska, the memory of the camp is one of mutual respect. Locals recall that, despite being labeled enemies, the German soldiers worked alongside farmers. The U.S., determined to follow the Geneva Convention, ensured the prisoners were treated with dignity – a point of pride for Indianola residents.

The story of Camp Indianola survives not just in its ruins, which can still be found north of town, but also in art. The Nebraska Prairie Museum in Holdrege hosts exhibits featuring paintings by Thomas Naegele, a German-born refugee drafted into the U.S. Army. He was assigned as an interpreter at Indianola and spent his free time painting scenes of daily life at the camp.

The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2019, and today the weathered water tower frame still rises from the grass – a reminder of how global conflict reached into the heart of Nebraska, and how this community carried out its role with resolve.

Foundations, chimneys and a skeletal water tower mark Camp Indianola, where German soldiers once worked alongside Nebraska farmers. The site remains a quiet reminder of global conflict on the prairie.

Thomas F. Naegele (above); Indianola Historical Society

Highway

Reap a harvest of fall colors and history across southern Nebraska

story and

by JOSHUA HARDIN

photographs

The Palmer-Epard Cabin at Homestead National Monument of America was built from local hardwoods the same year Nebraska became a state. The cabin was occupied until the mid-1930s and was moved 14 miles to Homestead in 1950.

THE LAST AUTUMN leaves cling to cottonwoods, elms and sugar maples, signaling the conclusion of another harvest. Farmers work the fields in combines converting corn stalks to stubble and raising dust clouds that fill the air with the scent of earth. Motorists can follow the changing foliage of fall as its patchwork quilt spreads along U.S. Highway 136.

Known as the Heritage Highway, the road stretches nearly 240 miles across 10 Nebraska counties, starting at the Nemaha County village of Brownville on the Missouri River and ending near the Furnas County village of Edison in the Republican River Valley. The route spans southern Nebraska on a two-lane highway, providing stunning seasonal views and insight into the state’s pioneers.

Most travelers begin the journey today as 19th century pioneers did, on its eastern edge along the banks of the “Mighty Mo.” Riverboats rather than automobiles were once the primary mode of transportation

in Brownville. You can learn about them at the Museum of Missouri River History, housed in a massive dredge boat that once worked to keep the river navigable.

Today, visitors can cruise the Missouri on the working steamboat Spirit of Brownville or spend the night at the River Inn Resort, an 18-room, floating bed and breakfast that looks just like the riverboats of yore.

“You can Google it, and you won’t find another hotel like this in the United States,” said River Inn owner Randel Smith.

The inn might call to mind a Mississippi steamboat, but the open-air top deck is pure Nebraska: The deck is covered with artificial turf recycled from the Cornhuskers’ practice football field.

Landlubbers less inclined to paddle the river can hike the Steamboat Trace Trail along the river’s shore for leisurely leaf peeping.

Westbound on the highway, fall foliage flourishes in Auburn, Nebraska’s original Tree City U.S.A. Northeast of Auburn and south of Brock is peaceful Coryell Park on

the site of an early Nebraska homestead. The park features a playground, reconstructed log cabin, an on-site chapel often used for weddings and a shrine encircling a stone brought from Solomon’s Quarry in Jerusalem.

Back on the highway, drivers cross into Johnson County and the city of Tecumseh, the county seat. In Tecumseh’s center is a town square occupied by a stately courthouse lined by oaks with leaves tinged in shades of late autumn red and orange complementing its brick facade.

The post office has a mural honoring the city as the 1896 site of the first Rural Free Delivery mail service in Nebraska. The nationwide RFD system was the brainchild of Tecumseh’s Emanuel Spiech.

“At that time, it was really something to have your mail delivered,” said Judy Coe, a Tecumseh resident and president of the Heritage Highway Association. Farmers at remote homesteads who previously had to ride many miles to town to get mail were connected to the world thanks to RFD, Coe said.

Costumed children go trick-or-treating and

toss beanbags in downtown Beatrice on the Night of the Great Pumpkin.

Whiskey Run Creek Vineyard & Winery is in a century-old Brownville barn.

An oak in Fairbury’s McNish Park teases passersby on Nebraska Highway 136 with a preview of autumn hues yet to come. A few leaves remain on scattered trees surrounded by cornfields at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Gilead.

DRIVERS DISCOVER THE Elijah Filley Stone Barn soon after entering Gage County. Only 80 days passed between when work began to clear the ground for the barn’s foundation in the heat of August 1874 and the completion of the cupola on top, but the timing saved local agriculture. To build the barn, Filley employed farmers who lost their crops in the great grasshopper invasion that summer. The site is the largest native limestone bank barn in Nebraska, and Filley kept farmers from abandoning the county after a disastrous harvest.

Just east of Beatrice, the extra fruits of a much more successful harvest help sustain families and contribute to the local economy. Lynette Jurgens placed surplus pumpkins at the front of her driveway off Highway 136 in 2001. It didn’t take long for passersby to empty the crop of its excess yield. Two years later she officially opened Korner Pumpkin Patch with her brother Don Jobman by charging for pumpkins, but there has never been an admission fee.

Travelers continuing into Beatrice’s charming downtown may witness trickor-treating children clad in costumes of

ghouls, princesses or superheroes. The city hosts the Night of the Great Pumpkin, including an annual showing of the classic Peanuts movie special on the Thursday before Halloween.

A detour from the byway four miles west of Beatrice leads to Homestead National Monument of America. The Homestead Act, which granted 160 acres of free land to anyone who would settle it, went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863. Just after midnight on that day, Daniel Freeman persuaded a clerk to open a Brownville land office so he could file a homestead claim located at the present-day monument. The sloping roof of the Heritage Center resembles the steel plows that dug into the prairie, opening the West to agriculture. The monument stores more than 60,000 artifacts and documents dedicated to the pivotal legislation. Hikers enjoy native tallgrass and two miles of hiking trails encircling the center.

The Heritage Highway intersects with the historic Oregon Trail near Fairbury, where splendid fall foliage is found at McNish Park or encircling the elegant cottonwood-lined Jefferson County Courthouse. Few other places in the state

are as connected with frontier lore as Rock Creek Station State Historical Park, about eight miles southeast of the city. The site, where wagon ruts are still visible, was a stopover for Pony Express riders and stagecoaches, and it is where Wild Bill Hickok began his gunfighting career in 1861 by killing former station owner David McCanles.

Travelers on the Heritage Highway can take a few pieces of history home with them in the form of local antiques during the Trail of Treasures, a 300-mile-long garage sale stretching along the byway from Brownville to McCook. Fairbury resident Julie Katz was instrumental in creating the event, Oct. 3-5, now in its 14th year with hundreds of participating sellers.

Antiques hunters can find about anything they’d hope to find, Katz said. Her friend Tammy Cleary turned her Fairbury basement into a 1950s diner – complete with functioning shake machine, soda glasses, restaurant booth and even a phone booth – entirely with things she bought on the Trail of Treasures. “By the time she was done, she could fix soda pops and chocolate malts for her grandchildren,” Katz said.

Visitors to the Korner Pumpkin Patch east of Beatrice stock up on pumpkins, gourds and decorative corn while children sift through the corn box and climb stacks of baled hay.

PERHAPS THE BYWAY’S most picturesque scene is St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Gilead. Set on a rolling hillside along the road, the white church with round windows and a pleasantly pointy steeple could be the prototype for all prairie houses of worship. The St. Paul’s congregation moved to this building, previously a Catholic church, after a 1996 tornado destroyed their old Lutheran church.

The byway passes south of Hebron at the intersection of Highway 81. Humidity begins to subside as the highway continues into more arid country. Once a hub of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, trains are easy to find in Deshler. Spring Creek Model Trains, a downtown store dedicated to the toys, and the Wheelhouse Restaurant, with a steam locomotive protruding toward the highway, delight rail fans.

Sorghum, soybean and wheat fields paint the countryside in orange-tasseled hues, vibrant green leaves and waving golden

textures. They’re irrigated by the Republican River, which begins to flirt with the road as it approaches Red Cloud. Among the city’s red brick-lined streets and impressive Victorian architecture, it’s impossible to ignore the influence of Webster County author Willa Cather. Tours of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, Red Cloud Opera House and Cather’s childhood home bring to life scenes immortalized in such novels as My Antonia.

Travelers marching farther into western Nebraska see the Franklin Veterans Memorial containing an M60A1 Patton main battle tank, an M113A2 armored personnel carrier and an F-80 Shooting Star fighter jet from the Korean War. Those looking overhead may spot squadrons of migrating pelicans and eagles navigating their way through the North American Central Flyway. Many roost along Nebraska’s second largest lake, the 13,250acre Harlan County Reservoir. Bracketed by Republican City and Alma, the lake attracts

avian species and anglers to its walleye, bass and catfish-rich waters.

The Heritage Highway tour ends in Edison, a village not named for the famous inventor but the founding postmaster's son, Eddie Rohr. Here, golden-leaved cottonwoods curve beneath the towering Furnas County co-op elevators storing the grains of the recent harvest to feed the nation.

Highway 136 departs the path of the Republican River veering northward to merge with Highway 34. As the byway closes amid fields in fallow and farmsteads preparing for the coming hard frosts of winter, one can imagine the words of Cather’s O Pioneers as they drive onward. “We come and go, but the land is always here. And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it –for a little while.”

First appearing in the September/October 2017 issue of Nebraska Life, this story returns with new updates.

Friends meet for breakfast at Lizzy’s Boutique & Coffeehouse in Red Cloud, the Webster County city made famous in the novels of hometown author Willa Cather.

Anglers at Harlan County Reservoir swing one last hopeful cast before reeling in and motoring to Navigators Restaurant at North Shore Marina for a meal and a drink. The Heritage Highway (below) begins once motorists pass the Nebraska welcome sign at the end of the Brownville Bridge after crossing over the Missouri River.

GAME DAY DIPS

Chips and dip team up for a winning combination

recipes and photographs by

DANELLE McCOLLUM

WHEN FRIENDS AND family gather to watch the game, the starting lineup of snacks is almost as important as the action on the field. From tortilla chips and cheesy Queso Blanco Dip to pita chips and Easy Greek Feta Dip, these favorite recipes will turn a home cook into the day’s most valuable player.

Queso Blanco Dip

Hot, gooey melted cheese gets a just a bit of kick from the jalapeño, though cooks can add more seeds to take the heat up a notch. White American cheese is available at deli counters or prepackaged at larger supermarkets, but the dip tastes just as good using classic yellow American.

Heat oil in saute pan. Cook onion and pepper until softened and reduce heat to medium-low. Add cheeses and 1/2 cup of cream. Stir until mostly melted. Add can of diced tomatoes and green chilies, diced Roma tomatoes, cilantro and additional cream a little at a time until desired consistency is reached. Serve with tortilla chips or fresh tortillas.

1 Tbsp olive or vegetable oil

1/4 cup white onion, diced

1 large jalapeño or serrano pepper, seeds and stem removed; diced

16 oz white American cheese, shredded or cubed

4 oz Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

3/4 cup cream or half-and-half

1 10 oz can diced tomatoes and green chilies

1-2 Roma tomatoes, seeds removed and diced

1 small bunch cilantro, roughly chopped Tortilla chips or fresh tortillas for dipping

Easy Greek Feta Dip

Just a few fresh ingredients quickly combine to create a dish loaded with flavor, thanks to the feta cheese and Greek seasoning. This dip can be a light and healthy change of pace from heavier dips.

In medium bowl, whisk together 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp Greek seasoning and balsamic vinegar. Add chopped tomatoes and toss to coat well. Place tomatoes in serving dish, then crumble feta cheese on top. Sprinkle with green onions. Toss gently to combine. Sprinkle with remaining Greek seasoning and drizzle with additional olive oil, if desired. Top with fresh chopped parsley. Serve with pita bread, pita chips or baguette slices.

2-3 Tbsp olive oil, divided

2 tsp Greek seasoning, divided

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

4 Roma tomatoes, chopped

1 8 oz brick feta cheese

2 green onions, chopped Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish Pita bread or baguette slices for dipping

Loaded Baked Potato Dip

All the best baked potato toppings can be found in this cheesy, creamy dip. There is no potato in the dip itself – that element comes into play by dipping potato chips or, even better, waffle fries.

In a medium bowl, mix sour cream, cheese, green onions and hot sauce. Crumble 8 slices bacon and stir into sour cream mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. Garnish with remaining bacon, crumbled, and additional green onions, if desired. Serve with warm waffle fries or ruffled potato chips.

2 cups sour cream

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

3-4 green onions, sliced, plus more for garnish

2 tsp hot sauce

10 slices bacon, cooked crisp

Salt and pepper, to taste

Cooked waffle fries or ruffled potato chips for dipping

WE’RE RAVENOUS TO taste (and publish) your favorite family recipes and stories that accompany them. Send recipes and stories to kitchens@nebraskalife.com or to the address at the front of this magazine.

In harvest season, the turning of the year is written across the land, signifying both endings and beginnings. Fields once green now glow gold as their crops are gathered in along with the memories of labor, levity and legacy. Our poets offer their own bounty of words, reminding us how deeply the land and its people remain intertwined.

After the Harvest

Stephanie Iwan Flamme, North Bend

After being caressed, The field lays empty, Waiting lonely, unattended.

After months of courting, A cold shoulder

Now abandoned, Grey stubble, A jilted lover, Waiting for spring To rekindle her affair

Child of the Farm

Kay Marks, Nebraska City

I am a child of the farm, meant for pastures and fields, treading barefoot among cockle burrs and wild plums.

Fully baptized in a cistern full of rain, a well that often went dry, and gully washers that swept away our crops.

I was a tomboy swinging on a rope in the haymow, gathering eggs from reluctant hens, pulled up a dusty hill while holding a milking cow’s tail.

I grew up surrounded by trees, creeks, and ponds brimming with tadpoles silently becoming frogs.

There are memories: threshing crews harvesting wheat, the tornado that toppled a train, hand-churned butter, skinned knees, fireflies and hollyhocks.

And always, I can see my father’s overalls hanging on the line to dry.

You see an old woman. I do too. I do too.

But now and forever, I want you to know, I am a child of the farm.

Aj Dahm (both)

There’ll be Long Days Ahead

Marvin Alishouse, Akron, Colorado

It is dark now; I am almost done –another hour, and I can go home, sleep in tomorrow, although I probably won’t.

There’ll be long days ahead –but this is ready; that is ready. Down the dirt road comes a caravan of trucks, campers, buses, pickups.

They’ll be here soon. What a beautiful sight! By dark, the combines will be unloaded, the headers will have been put on, and we’ll be ready to cut wheat.

As the sun rises, I’ll be in one field; they’ll be in another. In three or four days a year’s work will be in the bin. It’s time to celebrate now, but tomorrow we’ll start all over again.

The Song of the Harvest

Judy Lorenzen, Central City

The fields have grown golden with grain, and the light of the luminous full moon lingers late into the evening, helping farmers in their toil, before autumn’s first frost. It’s harvest time – when the combines and grain trucks sing in the countryside –when the difficulties of spring planting and summer irrigating are long forgotten, when the song of the harvest takes over. Can you even hear Neil Young bidding you to come a little bit closer, to hear what he has to say as he croons about the harvest moon rising? And now old, he’s still in love with the girl that he’s loved since his youth –and the song of the farmer, so similar –he, too, is still in love –with the planting and harvesting, with the fields that he’s loved since he was young.

SEND YOUR POEMS on the theme “Tracks in the Snow” for the January/February 2026 issue, deadline Nov.1, and “Open Doors” for the March/April 2026 issue, deadline Jan. 1. Email your poems to poetry@nebraskalife.com or mail to the address at the front of this magazine.

The Farmer

Patty Abrahamson, Holdrege

What drives a Farmer to love the land With his heart and some of his soul? It’s a blessing and curse rolled into one The hard work does take a toll.

The young Farmer charges into each day A plan well rehearsed in his mind. When evening comes – another day done some plans heave been left far behind.

Fickle weather can turn on a dime you see And cancel his plans for the day. It’s a fact seasoned Farmers know all too well Mother Nature always gets her way.

Years move along with an eye to the sky Seasons change as he tends to the soil. Some laughter, some tears as the days fly by He feels blessed by his chosen toil.

He knows the farm like the back of his hand He bonded with the land from day one. He used up is youth and the best of his back Working from early dawn.

He finds joy every day as he gives his all He is bound to his love for the land. He sees the beauty of a crop growing tall And finds pride in the toil of his hands.

Time puts a bend to his back, hands are rough, There are lines on his face from the sun.

Hours in the weather he has pushed himself Working ‘till each season was done.

Some regrets mixed with joy for the life he has lived He did the best he knew how.

God entrusts His land for a lifetime Another Farmer will get his chance now.

A Century in Bloom

Kimmel Orchard & Vineyard marks 100 years in Nebraska City

by RON J. JACKSON, JR.

ON A BLUFF above the Missouri Valley, Richard and Laurine Kimmel built more than an orchard. They built a tradition. From their two-bedroom farmhouse outside Nebraska City, they watched rows of apple trees march across the hillsides and generations of families make the same walk up the lane, baskets in hand.

The Kimmels planted their first trees in 1925. Apples soon piled high at a roadside stand where travelers along the dusty highway stopped for fruit and conversation. What began as a modest family venture has since grown into a working orchard of about 90 acres, pressing as much as 40,000 gallons of cider in a good year – a landmark that still carries their name.

Visitors still make that walk today. They drift toward the Apple Barn where freshly

pressed cider steams, its aroma mingling with warm spiced apple doughnuts. Each gallon requires about 36 apples and a careful blend of varieties for the right balance of sweet and tart. Rows of Jonathan, Gala, Honeycrisp, Ginger Gold and Winesap apples ripen in turn, carrying the season from summer to frost.

Richard and Laurine Kimmel both grew up in Nebraska City, shaped by families with deep local roots and German heritage. Richard, born in 1897, studied business at Cornell College in Iowa and returned to work at Otoe County National Bank. Laurine, born three years later, attended the University of Nebraska and taught school before their marriage in 1926. He brought a banker’s steadiness, she an artist’s eye and a teacher’s warmth. Together they

built a home on a bluff and planted not just rows of apple trees, but the roots of a legacy that would last a century.

Nebraska City itself had fruit-growing roots more than half a century before the Kimmels. In the late 1800s, J. Sterling Morton, founder of Arbor Day, established Arbor Lodge with orchards and experimental plantings that made the town synonymous with trees and fruit. The Kimmels carried that heritage forward, but their orchard soon faced trials of its own.

The first great test came on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1940. That morning dawned unseasonably warm; by evening, blizzard winds tore across the Midwest. Temperatures plunged into single digits. Orchards froze solid. By the next day, Kimmel’s crop was gone.

What started as a modest family venture in 1925 has blossomed into Kimmel Orchard, a working farm of about 90 acres where rows of apples and grapes thrive. One century later, it continues to uphold the history and traditions that have defined it through generations.

Kimmel Orchard (left); Visit Nebraska

Richard and Laurine

Kimmel, a banker and a teacher who shared a love of the land, built their home above the Missouri Valley and planted apple trees, laying the foundation for a prosperous orchard.

RICHARD LEANED ON the same steady judgment that had carried him from banking to farming. He replanted apple trees but also struck a deal with a Nebraska City cannery to raise tomatoes. That pivot carried the family through lean years until the orchard could bear again.

Laurine, who painted with a careful hand and a sharp eye for the overlooked, carried that vision into farm life. She saw possibility where others saw loss, encouraging neighbors and friends with her belief that the orchard could be remade. Years later, her American Architecture watercolor series – unassuming depictions of rural outhouses – earned national recognition for finding dignity and beauty in ordinary things. She had practiced that same vision in 1940, looking at rows of ruined trees and imagining what they might yet become.

Another trial came with war. In 1943, Nebraska housed thousands of German prisoners of war. Among them was 22-year-old William “Bill” Oberdieck, captured in North Africa. He was sent first to Atlanta, near present-day Holdrege, and later to Weeping Water, where of-

ficials farmed him out with other POWs to work at Kimmel Orchard. Paid about $24 a day for their crew, the men filled the agricultural labor gap left by local workers serving overseas.

“Most German soldiers were happy to work,” recalled Dan Giittinger, Oberdieck’s son-in-law. “They didn’t want to sit idle in camp all day.”

Oberdieck became more than labor. After the war, the Kimmels sponsored his return to America. With his new bride and infant daughter, he came back to the orchard. Richard made him orchard manager, and in 1967, when the Kimmels retired, they sold him the farm.

For decades the families remained entwined. Their houses stood only a few hundred yards apart; holidays were shared across tables filled with apples and pies. “The Kimmels basically became like family,” Giittinger said. “We saw each other nearly every day.”

When Oberdieck retired in 1995, his daughter Rickie and her husband Dan took over. They later sold the property to the Kimmel Foundation, ensuring its future.

Kimmel Orchard (both)

As the Kimmels’ trees grew, so did their family. William Oberdieck, who worked on the farm as a German prisoner of war in 1943, later returned with his family to work full time. For decades, the families remained entwined, and in 1967, the Kimmels retired and sold the farm to Oberdieck.

Kimmel Orchard (both)

RICHARD AND LAURINE lived long enough to see their orchard thrive again. She died in 1993 at 92; he followed three years later at 98. Before his death, Richard told his advisor one thing: “Don’t let anything happen to the orchard.”

That promise continued when the Kimmel Charitable Foundation bought the orchard from the Giittingers and ran it until 2012. Since then, the Kimmel Orchard and Vineyard Educational Foundation has carried on its role as a community treasure. Dan Giittinger still drives the tractor for hayrack rides, famillies waving from the same rows their grandparents once picked decades ago.

The orchard has also become a hub for education. In 2005, the foundation partnered with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to open the Kimmel Education and Research Center, which houses classrooms, labs and food processing space. Programs range from sustainable agriculture and pollinator science to agritourism and precision farming. Faculty and students use the orchard as a living laboratory, while youth programs introduce high schoolers to agricultural careers.

In the early 2000s, the orchard expanded into viticulture, planting hardy grapes like Edelweiss and Frontenac alongside the apples. The harvest supports juice and small-batch wines, including both grape vintages and fruit blends such as apple and cherry. Visitors can sample these in the Apple Barn’s tasting room, but apples remain the orchard’s centerpiece crop. The vineyard adds variety for guests and supports UNL’s research on specialty crops.

Kimmel has also become a leader in pollinator research. In partnership with UNL’s Bee Lab, the orchard maintains apiaries, native plantings and pollinator gardens that support endangered bumblebees and monarch butterflies. Honey harvested on site helps fund research and education programs, while visitors learn through workshops and a family-friendly Pollinator Playground.

Even as it embraces research and new crops, the orchard has kept its character. “We really try to keep it more traditional and historic,” said Len Weyeneth, Kimmel Orchard & Vineyard Educational Foundation president. “The Kimmels were private, hardworking folks passionate

about agriculture. Anything too fancy just wouldn’t be in keeping with their spirit.”

This year’s centennial celebrates both tradition and renewal. Events culminate in December with a German Christmas Market – a nod to the Kimmels’ heritage and to the POWs who once worked these rows.

Today visitors stroll through rows of peaches, pears, berries, grapes and apples. Children lick cider from their lips. Couples share pie warm from the oven. On autumn weekends, hayrack rides circle nonstop.

From the old sun porch on the farmhouse bluff, the Kimmels once looked down on the bustle of harvest. Laurine filled those walls with her paintings, ordinary scenes transformed by her eye. Richard watched with a banker’s pragmatism, measuring the yield. Together they tended the orchard as they had their marriage –one part practical, one part artistic, both rooted in Nebraska soil. Weyeneth often thinks of them still. “I imagine them watching the orchard full of families,” he said. “I can’t help but believe they would be thrilled.”

Oberdieck’s daughter Rickie and her husband Dan took over the farm in 1995. In 2012, the Kimmel Orchard and Vineyard Educational Foundation was created, preserving the orchard as a community treasure, partnering with UNL for research and introducing new crops.

Kimmel Orchard

BUZZING WITH PURPOSE

Kimmel Orchard & Vineyard is also home to important pollinator research and conservation. Since 2018, the orchard has partnered with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Bee Lab to host apiaries that support both crop pollination and education. A $100,000 grant from the Kimmel Foundation funded graduate research, pollinator gardens and educational signage.

The orchard’s gardens were replanted with native Nebraska species, earning recognition as both a certified Pollinator Habitat and a Monarch Waystation. These plantings now provide refuge for at-risk species such as the endangered Southern Plains Bumble

Bee, the vulnerable American Bumble Bee and monarch butterflies.

Kimmel’s hives also produce honey –nearly two tons annually between the orchard and UNL’s East Campus – which helps fund bee research and student outreach. Visitors can learn more at pollinator workshops or through the orchard’s family-friendly Pollinator Playground, which blends hands-on play with lessons in conservation. Through this partnership, UNL faculty and students continue to use the orchard as a living laboratory, advancing pollinator science while engaging Nebraska communities in hands-on learning.

U-PICK

Kimmel Orchard & Vineyard’s U-Pick is the orchard’s signature attraction, offering guests a chance to step into history and harvest produce right from the trees and vines. Admission includes orchard access and a hayrack ride: $6 for adults (13+), $4 for seniors (62+), $3 for children (4-12). Toddlers enter free. Fruit is weighed and charged separately. Seasonal availability varies – with apples, peaches, pears and berries among the offerings – so check ahead at kimmelorchard.org or call (402) 873-5293 before your visit.

Kimmel Orchard

BANCROFT

John G. Neihardt State Historic Site, p 52

BEATRICE

Gage County Historical Society & Museum, p 52

CHADRON

Museum of the Fur Trade, p 50

FREMONT

Louis E. May Museum, p 52

GRAND ISLAND

Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, p 51

HENDERSON

Henderson Mennonite Heritage Park, p 51

KEARNEY

Museum of Nebraska Art, p 50

Kearney Area Children’s Museum, p 52

LA VISTA

Czech and Slovak Educational Center and Cultural Museum, p 52

MUSEUM OF THE FUR TRADE

OMAHA

Durham Museum, p 53

PLATTSMOUTH

Cass County Historical Society, p 54

SAINT PAUL

Museum of Nebraska

Major League Baseball, p 54

WEEPING WATER

Weeping Water Valley Historical Society/ Heritage House Museum Complex, p 53

WYMORE

Great Plains Welsh Heritage Centre, p 53

YORK

Clayton Museum of Ancient History at York University, p 51

See the history of the first business in North America–The fur trade

UNIQUE ITEMS TO VIEW!

John Kinzie’s gun

HBC officer’s sword

Brass handle cartouche knife

William Clark fabric samples Chief’s coat

Kit Fox Society lance

Russian American Co. note Oldest dated trap 1755

Parchment HBC officers certificate Andrew Henry’s leggings

Open 8 a.m.-5 p.m., May 1-Oct. 31

3 miles east of Chadron, Nebraska on US Highway 20 www.furtrade.org 308-432-3843 • museum@furtrade.org

Explore ancient Rome, the Near East and more. Includes a children’s interactive play area. A new exhibit, Rise of the Greeks, highlights the ancient culture that shaped Western civilization.

ADMISSION IS FREE

Check website for hours

Call for group tours.

ClaytonMuseumOfAncientHistory.org

402-363-5748 • 1125 E 8th St • York

Lower level of the Mackey Center on the York University campus

Explore our 8 1/2 acre site with its turn-of-the-century farmstead, depot, country church, and school, where stories of Henderson’s Mennonite immigrants come to life!

Explore Fremont’s

Georgian Architecture

TAKING TO THE ROAD FOR FOOD, FUN AND FESTIVITIES

by ARIELLA NARDIZZI

HOLIDAY

NORTH

POLE EXPRESS

NOV. 22, 29 • GRAND ISLAND

Frost glitters on the prairie grass as families gather at Stuhr Museum, scarves wrapped snugly and little hands clutching golden tickets. Music echoes across the grounds and excitement rises. This isn’t just any holiday experience, it’s the North Pole Express.

A vintage passenger car, an 1871 Union Pacific boarding coach, glows with warmth as The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg comes to life.

Children ages 4-11 settle onto wooden benches while storytellers whisk them away – just like the kids in the book. Passengers sing, dance and sip steaming hot

The

chocolate before heading to the baggage car, where a man in a red suit enlists their help preparing for Christmas. Together they hammer, glue and build wooden train cars – keepsakes of the season’s magic.

Each session on the stationary train lasts 75 minutes, filled with sights, sounds and stories to spark imaginations. Tickets cost $30 for members, $40 for non-members.

The North Pole Express runs Nov. 22 and 29 with three departures per day at 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tickets go on sale Oct. 13 at 9 a.m. and sell out quickly. stuhrmuseum.org. (308) 385-5316.

WHERE TO EAT

CONEY

ISLAND LUNCH ROOM

This landmark has served hot dogs since 1933. Order the classic Coney with mustard, onion and chili. 104 3rd St. East. (308) 382-7155.

WHERE TO STAY

GRAND

ISLAND CASINO RESORT

The Fonner Park campus has everything within walking distance, from gaming and events to a hotel with indoor and outdoor pools, fine dining and new rooms. 777 E. Fonner Park Rd. (308) 675-5600.

WHERE TO GO TOWNSLEY-MURDOCK IMMIGRANT TRAIL SITE

Wagon ruts from Mormon Trail travelers can still be seen on this 2-acre prairie, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Adjacent to Wood River Crossing. (308) 382-4400.

North Pole Express departs from Stuhr Museum on Nov. 22 and 29, providing children with hot cocoa, toy making and a visit with Santa himself.

HISTORY

DURHAM: 50 YEARS EXHIBITION

THROUGH JAN. 4 • OMAHA

Fifty years ago, Omaha’s Union Station stood silent after closing in 1971. Once a bustling hub, its grand Art Deco halls were empty and its future uncertain.

A gift from Union Pacific and the vision of local leaders gave the landmark new life. On Nov. 22, 1975, it reopened as the Western Heritage Museum.

Since then, the museum – which was renamed The Durham Museum in 2008 – has grown far beyond its founders’ expectations. It has since hosted major exhibitions, earned recognition as a National Historic Landmark and become Nebraska’s first Smithsonian Affiliate.

Millions have walked beneath Union Station’s soaring ceilings, while generations of students have taken hands-on history lessons. Traditions such as Christmas at Union Station and a rotating slate of traveling exhibits have woven the museum into Omaha life.

Now the story of the museum itself takes center stage. “The First 50 Years” highlights the people and milestones that transformed a shuttered station into a cultural anchor. Through Jan. 4, visitors can explore images and artifacts tracing a

half-century of preservation and pride –all inside one of Omaha’s most treasured landmarks. durhammuseum.org. (402) 444-5071.

WHERE TO EAT CLIO

In the Old Market, this intimate spot serves Mediterranean mezze, spreads and shareable plates that invite lingering. 1202 Howard St. (402) 671-0098.

WHERE TO STAY

MAGNOLIA HOTEL OMAHA

Housed in the 1923 Aquila Court Building, modeled after Florence’s Bargello Palace, the Magnolia offers extravagant accommodations and a touch of Old World charm. 1615 Howard St. (402) 341-2500.

WHERE TO GO

SPIELBOUND BOARD GAME CAFE

Battle friends over coffee or craft beer. The shop doubles as a cafe and offers the nation’s largest selection of board games. 3229 Harney St. (402) 763-8444.

OTHER EVENTS YOU MAY ENJOY

NOVEMBER

Big Pals Bowl-A-Thon

Nov. 2 • Columbus

Westbrook Lanes fundraiser pairs mentors with youth. Prizes for top team and bowler. 3156 51st Ave. (402) 910-8334.

Omaha Holiday Boutique

Nov. 14-16 • Omaha

Vendors fill CHI Health Center. Girls Night Out runs Friday. Extras include a cocktail bar and pickleball. 455 N. 10th St. (402) 599-6800.

Parade Of Lights & Christmas

Nov. 22-23 • Valentine

Cherry County Fairgrounds host two nights of cheer with s’mores, Santa and a tree contest. 120 S. Green St.

Christmas At Kimmel Orchard

Nov. 29 • Nebraska City

Santa greets families with donut building, ornaments and letters. Reindeer from Blue Star Farm join in. 5995 G Rd. (402) 873-5293.

All Is Bright Tour

Nov. 29-Dec. 21 • Sidney

Cheyenne County Fairgrounds glow with trees, kids activities and a Whoville display. 10955 Lincoln Hwy. (308) 254-4030.

Christmas On The Hill

Nov. 30-Dec. 14 • Schuyler St. Benedict Center

Artists sell crafts and gifts. Nativity scenes from around the world on display. Open weekdays 2-6:30 p.m. and weekends 10 a.m.-7 p.m. 1126 Road I. (402) 352-8819.

DECEMBER

Elvis’ Blue Christmas

Dec. 5-6 • Red Cloud

Joseph Hall performs Elvis classics and fan-favorite holiday hits at Red Cloud Opera House. 413 N. Webster St. (402) 746-2653.

Historical Christmas Dinner

Dec. 6 • Crawford

Fort Robinson hosts a period Christmas dinner with historic menus. Costumes encouraged. Tickets on sale the first Monday of November at 8 a.m. and sell out quickly. Soldier Creek Rd. & US Hwy. 20. (308) 665-2900.

Nebraska Ag Expo

Dec. 9-11 • Lincoln

Nebraska’s largest ag event fills Sandhills Global Event Center with 1,700 experts and 826 exhibitors. 4100 N. 84th St. (515) 223-5119.

Grit ’N’ Gumption

Dec. 7 • Bancroft

Cherrie Beam-Calloway shares prairie life stories 2-4 p.m. at the John G. Neihardt Historic Site. 306 W. Elm St. (402) 648-3388.

Midwest Makers Market

Dec. 13 • Burwell

Artisans sell small-batch wares at The Hitching Post. 440 Grand Ave.

The Nutcracker

Dec. 14 • Chadron

Consuming Fire School ballerinas perform The Nutcracker at Chadron State College’s Memorial Hall. Show begins at 2 p.m. 1015 Main St.

SantaLand

Thru Dec. 31 • Creighton

Bruce Park becomes Santa’s Workshop with elves, Parade of Lights and Mrs. Claus’ Gingerbread House. 1205 Main St. (402) 358-3557.

Haigler Haigler

VISIT THE OF NEBRASKA

VISIT DUNDY COUNTY, the cornerstone of Nebraska. Enjoy the small-town atmosphere of Haigler as you take in the sights of our area.

Seasonal Events

Haigler Annual Fall Tumbleweed Festival Oct 18 | noon-4 pm | Museum Grounds Hwy 34 & Porter Avenue | Haigler, NE

All museums open, live music, BBQ food truck, homemade pies and icecream. Decorate tumbleweeds, pumpkins, enjoy games and more.

NATURALLY NEBRASKA

Just Do It

Make time for outdoors family adventures

by ALAN J. BARTELS

ANOTHER SUMMER IS slipping away and I haven’t spent nearly enough time outdoors with family and friends. I’ve been busy with work, garden, yard and writing projects. Spare time is scant. Sound familiar?

If we don’t make time for meaningful experiences with loved ones now, we’ll kick ourselves when they are no longer with us.

I was reminded of this recently while talking with Russ, a big guy who is big on both family and the outdoors. He was disappointed that he, and none of the relatives he hunts with, drew big game permits this year. He wouldn’t aim for deer, elk or pronghorn this season, but what gut-punched him was the thought of not experiencing that cherished time with family.

Instead of dwelling on how his father and uncle (and himself) aren’t getting any younger, Russ planned a three-day Missouri River fishing trip and then told them when and where to be. “When it comes to making time for family,” he said, “just do it.”

Those wise words resurfaced when my mom asked me, “What are the Sandhills?” I imagined an epic adventure and scheduled some vacation time.

After meeting my parents in O’Neill, we headed west. Bales of prairie hay stretched to the horizon, so we talked about the Ogallala Aquifer, sub-irrigated meadows and ranching as Dad – a dedicated film photographer many moons ago – snapped photos with his iPhone. We passed Emmet, the “Biggest Little Haytown in the World,” and I shared that Newport was the largest hay-shipping station on the planet a century ago.

My stomach began growling, so we stopped at the Range Cafe in Bassett. A local man was standing in a parking stall, chatting with cafe owner Denny Arrowsmith (who was safely on the sidewalk), when I pulled in.

“Jeez, pull in like you own the place,” the man quipped as I walked over to open Mom’s door. I apologized and he drove away. I had pie on my mind.

You see, head cook Ronda Williams has a way with pie. The cafe’s recipe dates to 1949 and calls for lard in the crust. So, I always order pie. Except that day – they were out. I settled for coffee and a warm brownie. Mom ordered a half hot beef sandwich, and Dad the chicken fried steak special – also a half order. Either of those halves could have fed the three of us.

We toured the lobby of the historic Bas-

sett Lodge before heading south on U.S. Highway 183. The prairie swayed in the breeze. Mom was amazed to see pelicans floating on a lake near Rose. When we passed the black-and-white cutouts of a couple waving near the Rock-Loup County line, I told Mom about the famous Taylor Villagers. Dad snapped more photos.

We crossed the Calamus River and jogged east, but our destination wasn’t the sandy beaches around Calamus Reservoir. Instead, we turned toward Calamus Outfitters. Mom didn’t know I’d booked a Sandhills safari.

Sarah Sortum gave Mom the choice of going off-road in an air-conditioned SUV or an open-top Jeep. It was hot outside, so I was surprised (and thrilled) when Mom picked the Jeep. She gave it her all climbing up into the rig, which reminded us of watching “Wild Kingdom” together when I was young. Any apprehension Mom might have had about our excursion drifted into the endless Sandhills sky.

We summited towering dunes, gazed at grazing cattle, and learned about Sarah’s pioneering ancestors. I jumped out to open a gate and found myself surrounded by a stand of sand bluegrass well over six feet tall. Sarah picked some purple love grass and handed it to Mom. Prairie coneflowers, annual buckwheat, rough gayfeather and other plants soon joined Mom’s keepsake Sandhills bouquet.

We stopped to give Sarah’s burro, Don Quixote, a good scratch, and rolled along tranquil Gracie Creek. Mom, Dad and I left with memories – and a better understanding of how ranching is better with family. Just like time spent outdoors.

Writer Alan J. Bartels made time for family by taking his parents on a Sandhills safari.

MALLARD DUCK

photograph by JEREMY BUSS

MALLARD DUCKS aren’t picky when it comes to staking territorial claims.

As northern waters ice over, waterfowl flocks head south in search of open water.

These pioneering birds are opportunistic, taking up residence on remote marshes as well as urban ponds and lakes. That is how this hen mallard ended up in Pioneers Park in Lincoln. There she homesteads among other aquatic migrants, under the watchful eye of park visitors and wandering photographers. That is, until a harsh Nebraska freeze sends her skyward to find warmer waters somewhere south of the Cornhusker State.

Mallard ducks are the most widespread waterfowl species on earth. They are found on every continent except Antarctica. The well-known mallard “quack” is uttered by the female only.

SIZE: While plump domesticated mallards can grow to five pounds, their wild counterparts typically grow to three pounds.

DIET: These adaptable ducks eat a wide variety of food, including aquatic vegetation, acorns, invertebrates, worms, small fish, insects and waste grain.

LIFE SPAN: Mallard ducks commonly live more than 20 years in the wild. A mallard drake shot in Arkansas had been banded 27 years earlier.

REPRODUCTION: These prolific birds become sexually mature at one year of age. Pairs bond in autumn and mate in spring. An average of nine eggs are laid in a nest on the ground. If not consumed by predators, they hatch 26 to 28 days later.

NEBRASKA RANGE: Statewide

Mallard ducks hybridize with at least 10 other duck species.

APPLES ARE JUST THE BEGINNING.

WORTH SAVORING.

Take your pick of crisp autumn experiences and fill your basket with apples, seasonal fun, and memories during the 2025 AppleJack Festival. On September 20–21 and 27–28, Arbor Day Farm comes alive with U-Pick adventures, live entertainment and demonstrations, local makers, and plenty of apple-inspired treats the whole family will love.

Scan the QR code to explore all the fall fun at Arbor Day Farm — from the AppleJack Festival to spooky All Hallows’ Eve events — and get your tickets today!