Historic Oklahoma: Oklahoma Highway 7 Adventure

As a landscape design firm, we take pride in showing off historic places Oklahoma has to offer.  Each month in 2017 we will highlight a few places that are on the map. We hope you will follow us on this journey!

This month we would like to highlight 

Oklahoma Highway 7 - Outdoors Adventure

Travertine Creek at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Sulphur

If you are looking for beautiful landscape and outdoor adventure in Oklahoma, try the scenic route along State Highway 7 between Davis and Atoka.  

Along the way you can explore Canasaw Nature Trail at McGee Creek.  It is one-mile of primitive trail and runs through rocky, pine-covered terrain - which is great for hiking.

You can also stop at McGee Creek State Park near Farris.  The lake there is one of the states most popular bass fishing lakes.  The view is beautiful and includes rock bluffs, deep canyons and beautiful terrain.

Just west of Atoka you will find Boggy Depot Park.  This park is very quiet and secluded and situated just south of State Highway 7.  During the Civil War it was a well-established crossroads, serving as a Confederate commissary.  It was a regular stop along the Butterfield Stage Line and for soldiers traveling the old Texas Road between Fort Gibson and Fort Washita.

The drive from Atoka to Sulphur along State Highway 7 is covered with beautiful landscapes.  Once you arrive in Sulphur you can drive through the Chickasaw National Recreation Area.  The park is famous for it's cool water streams.  Chickasaw National Recreation Area also maintains a small herd of American bison. 

Along the way you can stop at Blue River and then the Lake of the Arbuckles.  

Oklahoma offers beautiful landscapes, natural history and areas that some may never visit - only because they aren't aware they exist.  We hope by sharing each month it will add a little Oklahoma history and allow you to visit sites you've never seen before.

Source:  Travelok.com

Historic Oklahoma: Robbers Cave State Park

As a landscape design firm, we take pride in showing off historic places Oklahoma has to offer.  Each month in 2017 we will highlight a few places that are on the map. We hope you will follow us on this journey!

This month we would like to highlight 

Robbers Cave State Park

Hiking Trailhead at Robbers Cave State Park

Robbers Cave State Park is a state park in Latimer County, Oklahoma. It is located 5 miles north of Wilburton, Oklahoma, on State Highway 2.  

Originally named Latimer State Park, it received its current name in 1936.   The area surrounding the present-day park has been a hunting ground for hundreds of years. Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest people were related to the builders of the Spiro Mounds. By the 1600s, the Osage and Caddo tribes dominated the area. French hunters and explorers also visited, leaving their mark by naming some of the prominent geographic features, which are still used.

This park is a favorite of rappellers, equestrians, hikers and outdoor lovers. The park and adjoining wildlife management area covers more than 8,000 acres (3,200 ha) and includes three lakes. It offers visitors acres of discovery and enjoyment including trout fishing in season, boating, hunting, mountain biking, trails for hikers and horses, sandstone cliffs for climbing and rappelling, and fall foliage viewing. In addition, Robbers Cave is historically notable as a former hideout for infamous outlaws Belle Starr and Jesse James.

The park encompasses three lakes: Lake Carlton, Lake Wayne Wallace and Coon Creek Lake. These were created by dams built on Fourche Maline Creek, a tributary of Poteau River. The combined surface area of the three lakes is 189 acres.

source:  travelok.com

Historic Oklahoma: Oklahoma City National Memorial

As a landscape design firm, we take pride in showing off historic places Oklahoma has to offer.  Each month in 2017 we will highlight a few places that are on the map. We hope you will follow us on this journey!

This month we would like to highlight 

The Oklahoma City National Memorial

The Oklahoma City National Memorial
photo courtesy:  Adventure Road

The outdoor symbolic memorial is a place of quiet reflection, honoring victims, survivors, rescuers and all who were changed forever on April 19, 1995. It encompasses the now sacred soil where the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building once stood, capturing and preserving forever the place and events that changed the world.

This month on April 19th we will remember and honor the 168 people who lost their life and those whose lives were forever changed by the events that took place April 19, 1995.  Oklahoma City will also host the 17th annual OKC Memorial Marathon on April 30, 2017...A Run to Remember. 

Through the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, the world will never forget the 168 victims who died in the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

The Memorial is comprised of two separate components, each of which pays tribute to the victims of the tragedy in a distinctive way. The 3.3-acre Outdoor Symbolic Memorial includes such features as the Gates of Time, which mark the time before and after the bombing took place, and the Field of Empty Chairs, which memorializes each of the victims. The Survivor Tree, a resilient symbol of the attack, is an American Elm that withstood the full force of the bomb's blast on that fateful day.

Inside the 50,000-square-foot Memorial Museum, interactive exhibits offer a contrast between the immense brutality of the senseless act of violence and the tenderness of the city's response. This chronological, self-guided tour takes you through the story of April 19, 1995, and the days, weeks and years that followed.

For more information on commercial landscape design or high-end residential outdoor living and design, contact:  Studio W, info@thestudiow.com or 405.285.5610

Source:  adventureroad.com

Historic Oklahoma: Oklahoma State Parks

As a landscape design firm, we take pride in showing off historic places Oklahoma has to offer.  Each month in 2017 we will highlight a few places that are on the map. We hope you will follow us on this journey!

This month we would like to highlight 

Oklahoma State Parks - Part I

Beavers Bend State Park

The Mountain Fork River in Beavers Bend State Park offers incredible scenery like 
this area where the water cascades over the rocky river bottom.  ~TravelOk.com

Explore Oklahoma's gorgeous scenery and inspirational places. Admire a beautiful waterfall, trek along a scenic byway overlooking forested hills or hike among ancient mountains.

This 3,482-acre park offers 47 cabins plus 393 campsites and over 50 tent sites spread over eight camping areas.  Escape into the serenity of nature and follow Mountain Fork River as it flows from the base of Broken Bow Lake through the park below.  This area provides visitors with spectacular views, as well as excellent canoeing and fishing opportunities.  

Enjoy hiking, biking, boating, fishing, water skiing, nature center activities, river float trips, canoeing, horseback riding and much more.  Trout streams are stocked year-round and the park features two catch-and-release trophy areas.  

This is one of Oklahoma's 33 state parks!  

Beavers Bend State Park is located at:

4350 S Hwy 259A

Broken Bow, OK  74728

Phone: 580-494-6300

Phone: 580-494-6556

source:  Travelok.com

Historic Oklahoma: The Washita Battlefield National Historic Site

As a landscape design firm, we take pride in showing off historic places Oklahoma has to offer.  Each month in 2017 we will highlight a few places that are on the map. We hope you will follow us on this journey!

This month we would like to highlight 

The Washita Battlefield National Site

NPS Photo/Steven Lang

Congress established Washita Battlefield National Historic Site as a unit of the national park system on November 12, 1996. 

This site recognizes the attack by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and his 7th U. S. Cavalry on the Cheyenne encampment of Peace Chief Black Kettle as a nationally significant element of the United States Government Indian policy and the struggles of the Cheyenne to maintain control of their traditional homelands.

Today, as in 1868, the Washita River flows silently through the valley. The river banks are shaded by cottonwoods and sycamore are flanked with waving fields of grass. Ancient hills of red dirt rim the horizons. This peaceful setting offers us hallowed ground to contemplate this watershed event in our shared history, a place to find understanding, meaning, and perhaps healing in the wake of tragedy.

On August 25, 2007 Washita Battlefield National Historic Site staff opened the doors to the new visitor center to the public. Currently our new headquarters feature exhibits depicting the clash of cultures that laid the foundation for the attack along the Washita River. The new visitor center also hosts a Western National Parks Association bookstore, and the park's 27-minute film, Destiny at Dawn.

Visitors take a moment to reflect at the
Washita Native Garden. NPS Photo

In the days before aspirin, drive-thru, and nylon fabric, people relied on the land for medicine, food, and clothing. They did not have a mega-mart to buy things; the land was their mega-mart. Animals and plants provided them with the necessary means for living. To most of us this sounds like an alien culture; using plants as clothing; forging tools from animal parts and trees; or chewing on bark to ease the tension of a pounding headache. But these were time worn traditions to the American Indians. This was their way of life.

In an effort to help the public understand these traditions Washita Battlefield National Historic Site partnered with the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes Language Program to develop the Washita Native Garden. This garden features 21 plant and tree species, all of which are significant to the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes for spiritual and practical uses. These uses are arranged into four separate categories: Daily Living, Home, Edible, and Medicinal. The garden itself is based on the design of the Medicine Wheel. This wheel holds spiritual and astrological significance to many American Indian tribes. It is used for healing rituals and as a source for peace and clarity.

Black Kettle Memorial Highway /
Oklahoma State Highway 47A  NPS Photo

Over the years, SH-47 has seen several notable periods of expansion. On June 19, 1939, the highway was extended form U.S. Highway 183 (US-183) south of Putnam, OK, westward to Leedey, OK. On June 20, 1940 it was extended even further west to Roll, OK, where it intersected with U.S. Highway 283 (US-283). On May 31, 1944, another expansion took the roadway eastward via US-183 to Thomas, OK.

Washita Battlefield National Historic Site is located within the U.S. Forest Service's Black Kettle National Grassland near the town of Cheyenne, Oklahoma.

To go to Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, one must drive on a roadway that has figured prominently in the development of western Oklahoma for over 75 years--Oklahoma State Highway 47 (SH-47). 

The final lengthening of this highway took place on October 1, 1945, when it intersected with US-283 in Cheyenne, Oklahoma. From Cheyenne, SH-47 today travels westward to the Oklahoma/Texas line. 

More changes were still to come for SH-47, but a notable one took place on September 7, 1965. On this date, SH-47A was commissioned to direct travelers to Washita Battlefield National Historic Site's visitor center. In 1998, it was designated the "Black Kettle Memorial Highway."

Read more about the Washita Battlefield at the National Park Service

Historic Oklahoma: Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum

As a landscape design firm, we take pride in showing off historic places Oklahoma has to offer.  Each month in 2017 we will highlight a few places that are on the map. We hope you will follow us on this journey!

This month we would like to highlight the Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum 
Pawnee, Oklahoma

The 500-acre grounds include the original Ranch blacksmith shop, a 1903 log cabin, a large barn built in 1926, and an Indian Flower Shrine—all available for the public to tour. 
photo credit:  Oklahoma Historial Society

The Pawnee Bill Ranch was once the showplace of the world-renowned Wild West Show entertainer Gordon W. "Pawnee Bill" Lillie. Visitors can tour Pawnee Bill and his wife May's fourteen-room mansion, fully furnished with their original belongings. Their dream home, completed in 1910, is filled with Lillie family memorabilia, photographs, original art work, and much more. The Ranch property also houses a museum with exhibits related to Pawnee Bill, the Wild West Shows, and the Pawnee tribe. The 500-acre grounds include the original Ranch blacksmith shop, a 1903 log cabin, a large barn built in 1926, and an Indian Flower Shrine—all available for the public to tour.

A herd of bison, longhorn, and several draft horses call the Pawnee Bill Ranch home and can often be found grazing in the drive through exhibit pasture. The Ranch is also a day-use facility and several outdoor amenities can be reserved for private functions. The Ranch has covered picnic shelters, tipi-covered picnic tables, fishing ponds, a playground, and a meeting room. The Big Barn, shelter, meeting rooms, porches, and lawns can be rented for weddings, reunions, meetings, and more. The Pawnee Bill Ranch also proudly recreates Pawnee Bill's Original Wild West Show in June every year.  ~Oklahoma Historical Society

Source:  OK Historical Society
View photos at Travelog.com

Historic Oklahoma: Landscape Architecture and Design

What a great state we live in!  There are so many things to do and historic places to visit.  Starting in 2017, we will highlight places in Oklahoma that are on the map.

As a landscape architecture and design firm, we take pride in showing off what Oklahoma has to offer. We hope you will follow us on this journey!

By:  Americathebeautiful.com

     Oklahoma is located in South Central United States and it is 28th when it comes to being the most populous amid the 50 US states. It is nicknamed the “Sooner State” and was formed by the unique coming together of both the Oklahoma Territory and the Indian Territory on November 16, 1907. Oklahoma's capital city, as well as its largest city is no other than Oklahoma City. The residents of this fabulous state are known as being Oklahomans or simply Okies for short.

     If you go and explore Oklahoma. It will sure be an adventure in pure discovery that you will be unlikely to ever forget in this lifetime. Because Oklahoma is one of those rare places that doesn't permit you to not remember ever being there. This is because it is sure to provide tourists with an epic getaway that they will never want to leave after visiting. So, with this said, if you crave real Western adventure in every sense of the word...then you need to visit Oklahoma during your time here in the United States.

     Once you arrive this western experience can be felt in almost everything about this state and when a newcomer gets a taste of this influence they are pleasantly surprised.  It will be something that will be with them for life. You will be enchanted by all of the outdoor activities this state offers  to exploring the historic wonders and  personally witnessing the influence of the American Indian Culture.

     Come and get your soul fueled up by visiting the Sooner Than Later State. You can experience the colorful atmosphere of the famous Route 66 and also enjoy some of Oklahoma's natural gifts. These natural gifts are its very lovely and lush 35 state parks. 

Oklahoma is definitely the state when it comes right down to seeing and doing things sooner than later too. Because there is so much to do now and not later as a tourist. Everything from scenic drives to rodeos to historic sites to dude ranches to hiking to canoes and kayaking is doing it Oklahoma style!

Source:  Americathebeautiful.com