The next chunk of driving west, north homeward took us to the town of Wilson, Kansas. I picked a full service campground close to the missile silo to leave the fuzzball in the cool while we investigated the area.
Not only was the silo a fantastic spot to have found…the Town of Wilson turned out to be a pretty special little place itself.
The self proclaimed Czech capital of America.
The town has the worlds largest painted egg…….
..and many more giant eggs placed around town.
We were also quite delighted to find whimsical sculptures scattered around.
Wilson is one of those towns that used to be something so much more. Beautiful limestone buildings and remnants of the rail and coal era.
The old opera house burned in 2009. The site has been saved by reinforcing the basic framework of this beautiful building and it now serves as an outdoor theatre.
The old jailhouse stands just off the main street……prison standards have sure changed…LOL…
Many of the older buildings are built with slabs of limestone…Kansas had no trees so early settlers carved slabs of limestone for building…but also for fenceposts………
…many of the fields are still lined with these ‘posts’…..if you look closely you can see the holes drilled through the slabs for the wire.
One of the most impressive limestone buildings is the Midland hotel. It was the old railway hotel….and has quite the history…!!!.It was also the subject of an extensive renovation to restore it to its current glory.
We stopped in hoping for a beer…but they didn’t open ’til after 5…. checking it out online, their menu looked pretty tempting so we stopped in there for supper and a beer. The food was fantastic…and the local beer was pretty good too.
The town of Wilson has definitely seen better, busier days…….
..but a few conversations in local stores revealed that it is very much a happening place on the weekends due to its proximity to Wilson Lake…a very popular weekend spot for fishing and water sports
…so next day we set off with our swimming gear headed to one of the swim beaches at Lake Wilson…
Extra Pix
OsteoPraxis on the road 
Very cool…Wilson looks like it would have fit nicely into my “ghost towns” tour 3 years ago. There are so many towns with an interesting history that just didn’t “make it”.
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WoW!
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