Kansas Flint Hills Ghost Towns Part 7 - Cedar Point, Clements, Bazaar, Matfield Green
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2024
- The Kansas Flint Hills are one of the hidden gems of the state, and on this video I took my buddy Brent Patton along to explore some of the tiny towns in the region. We start at Cedar Point, which is a ghost town hunter's dream, highlighted by the beautiful 1870's mill. Next we take a short drive over to Clements, which is mostly gone except one building and a historic bridge. Bazaar is not as strange as the name indicates, but has a rich history in the cattle business. Matfield Green is the most touristy of the group, with a lot of unique places to check out. Some might not consider Matfield Green a ghost town, but it's certainly a fraction of what it used to be in terms of population. Either way, it's well worth a visit! This was a lot of fun - and thanks to Brent for going along!
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0:00 Intro
1:18 Cedar Point
4:21 Clements
6:47 Bazaar
8:41 Matfield Green
Music
Tenderness - Bensound.com
Feeling Good Again - Robert Earl Keen performed by Brent Patton
Bring Me Your Sorrows - Dan Lebowitz
The last stop (Matfield Green) has the narrators sitting on the front porch of historic Matfield Station. This isn’t an old train depot as they guessed. It’s actually the only free standing Santa Fe Bunkhouse in the nation. The exterior has been restored to its original look and design ( with the exception of three doors on the western side of the building which serve as exits to the individual porches of the three inside studios.)
Check out Matfield Station for its history 😎👍
Thank you!
I grew up on a dairy outside cedar point. We went to grade school there. The damn and mill were open to public fishing back then. Outstanding when the river came up. The dairy is still there in the same family just 4 generations later. Our bus would pick up other kids in Clements. Our part of the dairy had a real bunkhouse for hands back in the day. The Matriarch of the family lived in an ancient flint home at the base of the ranch and had hosted Wild Bill on multiple occasions. She always had cookies on a platter for us. Really makes me miss by brothers and sister. Really makes me miss my mom and dad. It was an incredible time of my life. Nice vid man.
Wow awesome stories! Thanks so much for sharing! I can imagine that was a great place to grow up. I really enjoy visiting when I can and hope to go back again soon! Thanks so much for watching my video and commenting!
Just found this video. I was born and raised in the Flint Hills of Kansas. When you were in Bazaar, I saw my childhood home, the church of my youth. The old school is a community building now, and I have a lot of family buried in the cemetery. I love and miss this part of the country. The sunsets are pure magic. Thank you for transporting me over a 1000 miles back home.
Awesome! Thanks so much! I had always seen that Bazaar sign and had to visit 😊
We just live West of the Flint Hills but my husband was raised in a town on the western part of where the Flint Hills begin, right off of highway 50 and we still go there a couple times a month. I used to go to Cedar Point and Clements a lot. I used to know someone who lived in Clements before it became a ghost town.
Such a beautiful part of Kansas to live and visit! I’m sure you have a lot of great memories from there!
I do
I love the Flint Hills in Kansas. Great video. Thanks for making the video.
Thanks! This was one of my favorites too!
Flint hills are Awesome especially along Interstate 70 around Manhattan, KS.
I love exploring these old Kansas towns.
It’s fun!
Oh, man! Kansas Flint Hills is one of Earth's most beautiful spots and I agree, particularly at sunrise or sunset. It's a Kansas thing and many people just don't get it as I have found. To have been born and raised a Jayhawker, you learn the true beauty of the prairie doesn't ever shout in your face "look at me, I'm beautiful!) like the front range of the Rockies or the Pacific Coast at Big Sur. You have to have the patience and insight to see it and when you gain this skill, not much can match. I used to backpack and camp in the wooded valleys of the Flint Hills west of Alma. Nearby there was an abandoned townsite named Volland along the Rock Island tracks.
Awesome comment! I have been looking at some more “towns” in that area too for another video. I always enjoy visiting! Thanks for the heads up on Volland!
Love your videos. So cool to see these old towns and imagine what they were like in their prime.
Thank you very much!!
I just subscribed and so did my husband! On the map you can see KS is very open. I love wide, open spaces. I was born and spent the 1st 4 yrs. of my life there, but, am from a pioneer KS family, so my roots run deep in the state.
Thank you for subscribing! It helps to keep the channel growing so I can continue to make videos in the future. Appreciate the support!
Love your videos. I'm a transplant from Indiana. This video is the general area where I live and work today. First lived and worked in Emporia. Then moved to Newton and work at the hospital in Marion. Our daughter attends Tabor College in Hillsboro. So this trip is very, very special to me. I have driven on all the roads you've driven, plus some. That old building in Clements has since been completely renovated and updated. The mill in Cedar Point is still crumbling. Unless they do some serious soon, it's a goner. Near Matfield Green, on private land, is the site and marker of the location of the plane crash where Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne died. Marion is worth a visit. The historic Elgin Hotel is beautiful and very much a going concern.
Thank you! Such a beautiful area to explore! I’ve done several Chase County videos and have loved all of it!
Thank you for the ride along. That's cool your friend has roots in the area. I enjoyed the old buildings, and the stone bridge was great!!
Thanks! Yeah this is a great area to explore. I plan to go back and do more this year!
Very interesting! Nice drone shots. Really liked the shot of the train rolling through Clemence. That arch bridge was a neat structure too!
Thanks! Yeah I got lucky with the timing of the train! A lot of cool places to check out around there!
@@TravelwithaWiseguy I wondered how long you waited for it.
@@TravelwithaWiseguy you should go up to Downs, KS fir the world's largest ball of twine and then 15 miles north us the geographical center of the USA.
I meant Cawker City for the ball of twine. Lucas KS has a weird museum house that would be good for your channel.
I’ve actually been to those and had them on some earlier videos. Lots of interesting places to check out up there for sure!
I love the bridge. I have been there a few times. Love the construction of it. I like watching you videos of Rural KS. Keep them someing
Thank you very much! Hoping to do some more KS videos in 2023!
Great video, my heart kinda breaks for some of these old towns. You know a lot of blood sweat and tears went in to establishing them.
Absolutely! And thank you! This was a lot of fun to explore these towns!
This is amazing I grew up in that area🌻🌻
It’s a very beautiful area to grow up in! I’m jealous!
Love old towns
I've recently found and subscribed to your channel. I've been watching all your videos in chronological order starting with the oldest. I was born and raised in southern Kansas, Cowley County, in the 50's and 60's. I don't know if you've been there (it seems you have been all over the state). Winfield is the county seat. I grew up in a small town called Burden. A few miles east and north are the towns of Cambridge and Atlanta. I haven't been there in years but I assume they're not ghost towns (yet). If you're in the area you might enjoy seeing these places. By the way, I love your channel. I watch it everyday. Keep doing what you're doing!
Wow I’m humbled by your message! I’m sorry about my early videos that weren’t very good haha. I’m still an amateur and learning everyday. I have been to most places in Kansas because of my job, but now I’m re-exploring because of the channel. I live in Wichita so Cowley is close and I’ve been there many times! Lots of places in KS to visit and profile in the future. Thanks again for the support - I really appreciate it!
Great video!!!
Thank you 😊
Fast becoming one of my favorite channels
That’s awesome! Thanks so much!
Love those Flint Hills 🐴
That stone arch bridge looks like a great place to go fishing and camping overnight.
It probably would be! Beautiful area of the Flint Hills!
Hopefully they can save old mill. Arch bridges are a work of art. Area had interesting stories.
Unfortunately I was there last week and it looks like their posted efforts to save the mill have been taken down 😞
Sadness. The old mills are so unique and interesting.
I look forward to your next video. May I suggest that you go to West mineral, Kansas and see Big Brutus.
Thank you! I’ve filmed a lot of videos already that I’ll put out for the next few months, but I’d love to visit Big Brutus sometime for sure!
You missed Wonsevu just a few miles West of Matfield Green. Truly appreciate what you do sir!!
I’ll add it to my list for next time!
There's no place more beautiful than the Flint Hills.
I can’t argue with that!
my 2nd great gandparents were living in or near Matfield Green in 1900. I grew up in Emporia and we drove through the Flint Hills a lot as kids, just getting away from town for awhile.
Nice! It’s definitely a great place to get away for a day!
Emporia is my hometown too! You probably went to Strong City to the Flint Hills rodeo! Always a fun outing.
@@RyanMOutdoors I remember going to a parade there in the 80's, saw a team of clysdales in the parade. Most of the rodeos I went to was at the Lyon Co fair.
At a roadhouse in Matfield Green, I once lost a game of pool (and a round of beers) to a one-armed man named … Armstrong.*
(*not even making this up!)
😂😂
John Pattons farm was just across the new bridge at Clements and then back east along the bluff. The old house burnt down recently but the large three story barn is still there. I grew up just south of the stone arch bridge.
Thank you for that info! Brent knew it was close to there. Awesome you were able to confirm it - such a beautiful bridge! Thanks for watching!
@@TravelwithaWiseguy Sometime I will need to take you on a tour of Chase County. I'm on the board of directors of the Chase County Historical Society located in Cottonwood Falls. Lots of History and stories that can be told and TONS of places to video. Most people drive right by the best places and the stories that go with them.
That would be great! Let’s make it happen!
One famous actor from that area was Jack Colvin (Mr. Magee) from the Hulk. Remember him?
Nice! I didn’t know that!
Every time I pass through the Flint Hills I decide that when I die I want to be cremated and have my ashes scattered across those rolling hills. As an alternative, I think I just want my body laid out there and let the coyotes finish me off. This is a really beautiful place.
Labai patinka!!
The old Mill & arch bridge🤗😍NEAT-O!!!
Yeah definitely highlights of a great trip!
How much snow did y'all get? We got 1/2 inch in Odessa
We got several inches this week. Too cold!
🥶NO KIDDING!!
I've been to those places. I like the Mill! I was looking for you to go to Aulne, Kansas. We went there once and that is the ultimate ghost town. You can verily find it on the map. You have to know where it is at, just to find it. You go North on Nighthawk road, out of Peabody. You go all the way to 140th and make a right and you will be there at Pawnee road. You should go check it out.
I was taken to a now ghost town by my wife’s uncle. Her great great grandfather was buried in a cemetery somewhere just west of Timber Creek Lake. Timber Creek Lake lies NE of Winfield Ks. There is an abandon town I believe which was called Florissant immediately west of the lake. I think the towns claim to fame was a limestone quarry somewhere close by. There is a limestone arch bridge also somewhere in the area. Sorry for the poor details but it was some 30 years ago when we were taken there.
I looked on my maps and I found a “town” near there called Flora. Maybe that’s the same one?
I believe your talking about floral Kansas.
Would you ever consider showing places that no longer exist? For example, my dad grew up in the Flint Hills not far from Eskridge. The township was called Chalk. The only things that still exist are the school house and the cemetery. My dad told me there used to be a log cabin General Store that no longer exists. He couldn’t remember where it was located.
I’ve done a few videos about places that no longer existed. It helps if I can find some old photos of what used to be there and show people more than just an empty space. Especially if it has some interesting history to it as well!
Amy, do you have any old photos of the area?
That's dope, on my channel triurbex vlogs we explored a lot of the Abandoned places in cedar point
Not far from Cedar Point is Wonsevue where my grandmother grew up ,only school ,a house and the cemetery left
Hope to check it out soon!
The 1951 flood drowned the last hopes of many towns. Also CLEMents - the accent is on first part .
Thank you for the accent on the first syllable. Didn’t know that!
@@TravelwithaWiseguy love your No Coast Film Festival shirt. The Chamber will be so proud. Very interesting series. Chase County was first I saw.
@@lindarunge4119 Thank you! I was lucky enough to be selected for the festival so I love to promote it whenever I can!
I was there a month ago
Those first 2 towns are most probably the most abandoned ones yet that you have found. Is it very dry or is that just winter ?
Awesome job capturing these places and putting it together
You’re definitely right. Cedar Point had SO many abandoned houses. I filmed this in November so it was approaching winter. Will definitely need to go back in the summer when the Flint Hills are more green. Thanks for watching!
Both towns are too close to the Cottonwood River. There’s a tall stone I think in Clements that shows the height of the 1951 flood. It was well above my head. The flood in the 90s was devastating too. There were other lesser floods as well. Mostly older people stayed. The younger needed jobs and left small farms. In the 1940s combine headers were 8-12 feet wide. Now they’re around 22 feet.
@@lindarunge4119 interesting Linda.
Nice video 👍 . I live 45 minutes west of Cedar Point. Visited Cedar Point last summer and took some amazing photos. The old gas pumps by the Pepsi machine there are lit up at night. Went into the school also…didn’t stay long, too many wasps/hornets in there by the trophies. Haven’t visited the other towns on your list there yet…maybe this summer 😃
Thank you for watching and the comment! Cedar Point is definitely a hidden gem for people that like these kinds of things. So many old and historic buildings!
Thats cool that they light up the gas pumps at night!
Agreed @Ryan M Outdoors 👍
Have you seen any of the dugouts around Nicodemus? I’ve always wanted to see the original dugouts that settlers made before they built their houses.
I haven’t seen those. I went there once but only for a short time. Would love to go back!
@@TravelwithaWiseguy me too! I’m not sure they’re still around, but the remaining locals are very nice and probably could point whoever’s interested in the right direction.
@@lololala785 Cool thanks!
Stamp collector hobby town tours!
Land area ? the state ? Is cutting trees allowed? the price ? The possibility of payment in installments. How much is the down ? payment? How much is the monthly installment? Water ?
11:36 My great great grandfather was a Civil War vet, captured by the Yankees at Vicksburg and sent to a Yankee prison camp in West Virginia, he later escaped by wearing a woman's bonnet, don't know the whole story, I find it a little funny since he was big looking like a farmer, but he hid out in the woods for quite a while until he made it back to a Confederate regiment and continued fighting again.
Oh wow very interesting! I can picture what he looked like - must’ve been a great actor (or actress haha)!
There are no longer dug outs at Nicodemus. Not much of anything there except an interesting visitors center. This was about 6/7yrs ago
I actually did a video about Nicodemus last year. Several old buildings left to see as well as the visitor center.
👍
City's were to get big buy the rail road. Trains had to get water
Yes exactly! Lot of towns died when the railroad didn’t pass through.
What was you favorite exit in Matfield Green? ;-)
Haha! It was hard to choose a favorite with all the options 😂😂
Couldn't hear so many things in your video due to low volume. I know some people can afford a phone or computer with better speakers but I've only got what I got and it ain't so hot. The volume on the train noise was food. Your companion, sorry I couldn't catch his name due to road noise in your car, I couldn't hear his family's connection to that bridge. Is there no. At all for you to increase the volume? some CZcamsrs I hear loud and clear every single time. You have an interesting channel that I would enjoy, if I could hear it. Otherwise, I skip away in frustration.
I appreciate your constructive criticism! I think it might be a combo of me not doing the best job on audio and you having some issues too. I just rewatched it and can hear it fine, but I understand what you’re saying. I’m an amateur at this and that video was a while ago. It’s just me and my cell phone out there. I think I’ve gotten a little better with audio since. Thanks for watching!
I love your movies, I see a lot of my life there. BUT! I wish you would protect yourself from the wind when trying to explain somethig. Usually all you have to do is turn just a bit and change the direction of the wind on the mike.
Thank you for watching and I appreciate the input. Obviously I’m a total amateur haha, and it’s just me and a cell phone out there. I think since this video it’s gotten a little better, but I’ll keep being aware. Appreciate it!
Do you still drink slushies?
Oh yes I love them 😍
I enjoy your videos but you really need to work on your audio. Get a good mike muff, the wind noise is terrible, and the volume changes are anoying. Keep the vids coming but please work on improving.
Thank you for watching! I’ve tried to work on that, but it’s tough with just an iPhone and selfie stick out there by myself. I’m an amateur, but I’ve started to figure out some methods to deal with the wind a little better. I appreciate the suggestion!
Enjoy your videos. Had to shut off the music on this one!!!!!!!
An older friend in Greenwood Co. Kansas owns property containing the remains of "Lapland", a one time "town" with just an old Limestone dwelling that is crumbling away. According to an old timer, in late 1990's, the town was settled by Finnish immigrants in ca. 1880.
If you come across any information on this old site I'd be interested to hear it.
My thanks.
Lapland is actually in one of my Greenwood County videos! Not much left that I could find except a farm. There were some comments on that video about Lapland that told some info about the history.
@@TravelwithaWiseguy Just watched it. About what I knew. Appreciate the heads up!