Trespassers Beware!… Traveling Exhibit on Display at Shawnee Indian Mission Historic Site

This recommendation is shared by Deb Meinke.

Last September, a friend and I enjoyed a fall field trip to the Wyandotte County Historical Museum in Bonner Springs. We visited the traveling exhibit “Trespassers Beware! Fort Conley and Wyandot Women Warriors”, and marveled at how tiny “Fort Conley” was with three adult women inside. Henry David Thoreau and his Walden Pond cabin can’t hold a candle to the reality of Fort Conley.  Then we enjoyed a delicious lunch on the KCK Taco Trail – I encourage you to find your favorite spot, they are all superb! We finished our day with an exploration of the graves in the Wyandot National Burying Ground (AKA Huron Park Cemetery, 631 Minnesota Ave. KCK), which the Conley sisters had so bravely defended in the early 20th century. The burial ground sits atop a steep hill with an expansive view, so I can see how the sisters were able to hold their ground.

Now the “Trespassers Beware!…” traveling exhibit is on display at the Shawnee Indian Mission Historic Site, only a few miles from Second Pres. So the time is right to (re)visit the Shawnee Indian Mission, hear the story of the tenacious Conley sisters who protected the tribal cemetery, both with rifles and in court, and enjoy a peaceful stroll through grounds dotted with native plants and trees that are used by our indigenous siblings.

The exhibit will be open September 9 through November 14, Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to - 5 p.m.

So much remarkable history surrounds us here in the Kansas City metro and impacts the long road toward racial justice that we current Kansas Citians are traveling.