Father's Day in The Grove

 For Father's Day, My parents and My husband and I ventured a whole 45 min. from Manhattan to Historic Council Grove, Kansas. Council Grove has a lot of history and a beautiful downtown. We ate dinner at Hays House which is dubbed as the Oldest Continuous Restaurant West of the Mississippi River. It was built in 1857 and is known for their Steaks and other yummy specialties.

 They have Rustic Decor and old photos and such. We all had the Chicken Fried Steak with mashed potatoes and gravy. I had the 'Grasshopper' Pie, the mint filling was chilled and so good in the chocolate crust. (Silly me I was so focused on snarfing down the food I forgot to take pictures.)

Throughout the town, there are Historical points that you can drive to. We stopped at a few of them. The downtown sits on the Santa Fe Trail so there are many interesting od buildings and sites. The strangest one we went to was 'Hermit Cave.' It was a tiny cave, about 5' by 5' with a stone entrance. An Italian priest lived there for 5 months! Can't even imagine...

 There's a General Store that still stands from the trail days that was one of the last stops for supplies on the way out west.

 Seth Hays, was one of the first men to settle in Council Grove and his home still stands. He is the man who built the 'Hays House' restaurant. You can take tours of his home when they are open. I peeked in the windows and was in awe of the antique furniture and decor. :) 

 There's an old 'M-K-T' Railroad depot in Council Grove, now an antique store. The depot building has such cute detail. My great grandfather worked for Katy Railroad for 50 years and my father now collects Katy memorabilia so he enjoys stopping by this old train station.

This old jail next to the Depot, was the only jail on the Santa Fe Trail and it had only two cells that were tiny and very dark. The entire building was built of thin strips of wood stacked on top of eachother very tightly and it was a VERY sturdy building. There was a sign that stated the men who were kept in the jail then later hanged.