Photo by Alan Bauman, Kansas Chapter, purple wild flower in Flint Hills
BY ALAN BAUMAN, Chapter Executive Committee
Soon the prairie will be ablaze with wildflowers.
I took photographs on a day trip from Kansas City in April of 2021. Then, as now, I was fatigued from the dual lockdown of Covid and Arctic temperatures. It was an ideal time to explore the Kansas prairie. The Sierra Club emphasis on the Greater Outdoors resonates with me.
April is a perfect month for a visit to the Native Stone Scenic Byway in the Kansas Flint Hills. Limestone is the bedrock on which much of Kansas rests. This scenic tour highlights both the natural wonder of rock formations and the amazing craftwork of masons who built the small towns and communities with native stone.
Burlingame, Kansas, a stop on the Santa Fe Trail, has a post office which opened on April 30, 1858. The brick main street, Santa Fe Avenue, was built wide enough for an oxen team to make a U-turn. Alma, a city of native stone, was first occupied by members of the Potawatomi tribe. It has a strong German heritage with many native stone churches including St John Lutheran Church (1908) and Peace United Church of Christ (1881).
