Everyone Should Visit Nebraska’s Beloved Little Western Town At Least Once
By Delana Lefevers|Published November 09, 2018
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Delana Lefevers
Author
As a lifelong Nebraskan, Delana loves discovering the many hidden treasures of her state. She has worked as a writer and editor since 2007. Delana's work has been featured on more than a dozen websites and in Nebraska Life Magazine.
Back in the heyday of cowboys and outlaws, Nebraska was the beginning of the Wild West. This heritage is alive and well in western Nebraska, where our towns keep that legacy alive year after year. This one little town is a perfectly Western place that every fan of Nebraska’s Western history should visit.
Welcome to Gordon, Nebraska! This city boasts a population of just over 1,600, which is actually not that small in this part of the state.
Like many of the towns in this part of the state, Gordon sprang to life thanks to the railroad. As it passed through the area, folks settled here, and many of those families have never left.
The close-knit community is peaceful and clean and enjoys plenty of town-wide celebrations and events throughout the year. Families love Gordon for its excellent schools and abundance of outdoor activities.
You won't find a whole lot of places to get an away-from-home meal in Gordon, but you will find the Covered Wagon Drive-Inn, a delightfully retro fast food joint with burgers, ice cream, and other fast food staples.
This a great place to spend an afternoon learning about western history and the way cowboys and pioneers made their way in this inhospitable wild land.
The Scamahorn Museum lives here as well. The restored 1880s Methodist church is the oldest building in the city. It houses artifacts of pioneer life as well as agricultural tools, Native American artifacts, and other unique objects from Nebraska's history.
The city is located right at the confluence of several remarkable natural areas: the Black Hills, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Badlands, Sandhills, and prairieland all converge here. There's plentiful hunting, fishing, camping, and hiking to keep nature lovers busy for days.
