Old Trail Town, Cody, WY

Cody, Wyoming is located at the eastern gateway to Yellowstone National Park. There are many American West traditions in Cody such as Buffalo Bill's Historical Center, Cody Night Rodeo and Dan Miller's Cowboy Music Revue. Another fun thing to visit is the Old Trail Town, which is open from mid May to mid September. The hours of Old Trail Town are from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm every day.

This wonderful attraction contains twenty six buildings beginning with one dating from 1879, with the latest building constructed in 1901. There are approximately one hundred horse drawn vehicles along with Native American artifacts and other memorabilia from Wyoming's frontier days. The Shoshone, Gros Ventre, and Crow Indians are part of the collection of artifacts that the town has on display.

While visiting Old Trail Town visitors can learn about famous residents of Wyoming including John "Jeremiah'' Johnston, Jim White a buffalo hunter, W.A. Gallagher and Blind Bill who were cowboys that were murdered in 1894. Phillip Vitter was a trapper that was killed by a grizzly bear and he is mentioned in the memorabilia at the museum. Also talked about were the famous outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as well as General Custer and his Crow Indian scout, Curley.

The Rivers Saloon was built by Wood River which is west of Meeteetse, Wyoming in 1888. Cowboys, gold miners, colorful western characters and outlaws all paid visits to the Rivers Saloon at some point. If visitors look at the door they will see bullet holes. One of the most interesting cabins on the site is that of the Hole in the Wall Gang. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid spent time in the two room log cabin which was built on Buffalo Creek in 1883.

A livery stable that was built in the late 1870's north of Clarks Fork Canyon demonstrates what was needed to keep horses on the move in the American West. The Burlington Store was built in 1897 and features many of the items needed to live on the Wyoming frontier. There is a cemetery at the far end of Old Trail Town Street that has the grave of Jeremiah Johnston who was called Liver Eating Johnston. The movie Jeremiah Johnston was based on this man's life.

After you have finished visiting Old Trail Town you can drive a short distance out of Cody going north. This will take visitors to the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway which takes guests through Sunlight Basin and on to Cooke City, Montana. This will also get visitors to the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Sunlight Basin is in the Absaroka Mountains where fishermen can try their luck at catching cutthroat trout. If visitors don't want to go to Yellowstone they can turn toward historic Red Lodge, Montana. If they take this scenic route they pass through Beartooth Pass in the Beartooth Mountains. If visitors stay in Cody there are plenty of shopping opportunities, dude ranches to stay at and other attractions in the town.