Robyn and I were on a road trip to visit some of the places our grandparents and ancestors lived. Our next stop was Manhattan, KS. Our great-grandparents, Jenny (Fleming) and Stephen Harris, and their parents, Elizabeth (Dodd) and George Harris, and Susanna (Carnahan) and Alexander Fleming, lived in a town called Garrison, Kansas. Sadly, the whole community had to move when the Tuttle Creek dam was put in, as the entire town was flooded and swept away. Even the graves had to be moved, and this is what we visited — the Carnahan Creek Cemetery. These brave pioneers had come from England and Ireland via Pennsylvania to live in the plains of Kansas. They’d had a long journey and stories of hardship, bravery and discovery, I’m sure.
When they moved the graves up to the top of the hill in 1959 they also moved their church.
We thought it was hilarious that the church had a two-seated outhouse in back.
I’ve been told that before Garrison was destroyed by the dam, all the townspeople moved away in many different directions — it was like a death of the entire community. But in the years that followed, you could always come back to see your friends at this church on Memorial Day, when a pot-luck would be held (still to this day, perhaps, though very few are left if any).
Next we headed to one of our favorite places in the world — Lawrence, Kansas — home of the Jayhawks. On our way, we stopped in Topeka to see where Papa Koontz worked at the State Hospital. Sadly, most of the buildings are gone now, but a couple of them remain.
We have photos of our mother as a young girl with her grandpa at this very location.
I also stopped to show Robyn the beautiful Tiffany windows at a church in Topeka. The depth and beauty in these windows is stunning!
Finally we pulled into Lawrence and it didn’t take us long to find some Jayhawks at the University of Kansas.
We also saw the original “Rules of Basketball” in the DeBruce Center. Wow!
We found an oddly quiet Allen Field House, but it’s thrilling to be in the facility anytime.
The athletic museum is impressive! I personally attended two Orange Bowls, and here are some winning trophies from football and basketball.
It was fun to play with some of the equipment, too. My arms and hands are not nearly as large as those of the players.
It was interesting to see the records of former Kansas athletes that competed in the Olympics, many of them receiving medals.
Lastly, we stopped in the old Sunflower Village of the 50’s, where our parents first lived after they were married. These were multi-family units at the time, and were not far from Lawrence on the way to Kansas City.
What an interesting time we’d had, tracing our roots and paying respects to all those who went before us in our family tree. It was a memorable road trip, indeed.
Sheep Droppings 