The Lincoln County Tourism Coalition is on a mission to showcase Lincoln County, and the first stop was Barnard.
On Sunday, July 16 a group of a dozen or so met at the Lincoln County Historical Museum to caravan to the northern portion of our county.
Traveling the back roads of the county, the group enjoyed a two-hour guided excursion where they discovered a round stone silo, the impeccably manicured Union Cemetery on their way to meet two local entrepreneurs who make a living off their dream.
In 2001, Steve and Laura Wirth followed their dream and converted their grain and livestock operation into 4,000 acres of guided hunting ground. They also offer firearms training and competitive matches that bring students and competitors from throughout the Midwest. Customers become good friends and return year after year to hunt and renew their relationship with the Wirth family.
The lodge isn’t quite complete as far as Laura is concerned, but the décor and ambiance brought ooh’s and ahh’s from the tour group. They also welcome family groups, business associates and women’s groups wanting to gather in a relaxed atmosphere.
The land itself is a perfect example of the beauty of Lincoln County.
From Spearpoint the group moved on to Barnard where they visited the Community Building where the Barnard Lions Club meets, the locally infamous “Cookbook House” and Nancy’s Fancies.
Long time Barnard resident Barb Rathbun likes cookbooks. She has collected cookbooks through the years. She has books for meat, books for canning and books for heart patients. She has cookbooks with a theme, cookbooks in sets, cookbooks that are novelties and cookbooks that are all your grandma’s old recipes. She has so many cookbooks they have their own house.
The Lincoln County Tourism Coalition is on a mission to showcase Lincoln County, and the first stop was Barnard.
On Sunday, July 16 a group of a dozen or so met at the Lincoln County Historical Museum to caravan to the northern portion of our county.
Traveling the back roads of the county, the group enjoyed a two-hour guided excursion where they discovered a round stone silo, the impeccably manicured Union Cemetery on their way to meet two local entrepreneurs who make a living off their dream.
In 2001, Steve and Laura Wirth followed their dream and converted their grain and livestock operation into 4,000 acres of guided hunting ground. They also offer firearms training and competitive matches that bring students and competitors from throughout the Midwest. Customers become good friends and return year after year to hunt and renew their relationship with the Wirth family.
The lodge isn’t quite complete as far as Laura is concerned, but the décor and ambiance brought ooh’s and ahh’s from the tour group. They also welcome family groups, business associates and women’s groups wanting to gather in a relaxed atmosphere.
The land itself is a perfect example of the beauty of Lincoln County.
From Spearpoint the group moved on to Barnard where they visited the Community Building where the Barnard Lions Club meets, the locally infamous “Cookbook House” and Nancy’s Fancies. Long time Barnard resident Barb Rathbun likes cookbooks. She has collected cookbooks through the years. She has books for meat, books for canning and books for heart patients. She has cookbooks with a theme, cookbooks in sets, cookbooks that are novelties and cookbooks that are all your grandma’s old recipes. She has so many cookbooks they have their own house.
The smallish six-room house in Barnard is lined wall to wall and floor to ceiling with shelving full of cookbooks. Recipes clipped from newspapers or magazines, on recipe cards or a handwritten note serve as wallpaper on some of the walls in the house.
From cookbooks, she began to collect coffee cups as well. Shelving and pegs are filled with novelty coffee cups. One of the cups has a 3-dimensional moose on it. A visitor to the Cookbook House noticed that moose cup and commented that she’d at one time owned a pair of cups just like that. She said one had broken so she donated the other one to the “thrift shop” in Lincoln.
“Well guess what!” Rathbun laughed. “That’s where I found this one!”
The kitchen displays various items from the past. Several from the group noticed what appeared to be brand new Tupperware containers, long since discontinued, on one of the shelves. Rathbun had a story about those as well.
One of her sons purchased a dilapidated home in Barnard that had been empty for years. During a walk through prior to demolition, he found these Tupperware containers, still in a plastic bag, and took them to his mother who used to be a Tupperware distributor. As it turned out, the original receipt was still in the bag and the containers had been purchased from Rathbun!
The group moved on to Nancy’s Fancies and owner Nancy Houghton.
Originally from Rhode Island, she met her husband Doug when he was living in New Hampshire. He had a sister in Barnard and the couple took a risk and moved their family to the middle of Kansas in 1992 where they could feel safe, the air was clean and all the other reasons people love it here so much.
Houghton is an avid crafter. In fact, her whole family is crafty. Crafty people tend to collect an amazing amount of supplies. In fact, Nancy ran out of room for her supplies, which is why she purchased the “Betty’s Place” building now known as Nancy’s Fancies.
She found a place for her craft supplies, but with a commercial kitchen who could resist the urge to feed the masses? So, Nancy’s is open on Wednesday nights from 5-8 p.m. with soups or salads or sandwiches, and on Saturday morning with biscuits and gravy or cinnamon rolls. She also makes homemade ice cream for her customers in a variety of flavors. Look for another off-road tour of Lincoln County in August.
