Ash Hollow State Historical Park

State Historical Park On The Oregon Trail (Nebraska Game And Parks Commission) · Lewellen, Nebraska

Ash Hollow State Historical Park sits on US Highway 26 just south of Lewellen in Garden County, at the west end of Lake McConaughy, and preserves one of the best-remembered places on the Oregon, California and Mormon trails. Emigrants who had crossed the South Platte climbed over the high tableland between the two rivers, then had to get their wagons down Windlass Hill, a slope steep enough that wheels were locked and wagons were held back with ropes as they skidded down. At the bottom lay Ash Hollow: a sheltered draw with a fresh spring, ash trees and grass, the first good wood and sweet water for many days, and a place where trains rested before heading up the North Platte. Wagon swales are still cut into the hillside, and a paved path climbs to the top of Windlass Hill. The hollow also holds Ash Hollow Cave, an archaeological site used by people over thousands of years, and an emigrant cemetery. It is a small, quiet park: a one- to two-hour stop, best combined with Lake McConaughy, Ogallala or the drive west to Courthouse Rock and Chimney Rock. The area is on Mountain time.

4055 US Highway 26, Lewellen, Nebraska, 69147, United States

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the park grounds and Windlass Hill are open daily year round in daylight hours, while the visitor centre opens only from about Memorial Day to Labor Day, often roughly 9 am to 4 or 5 pm Mountain time, and may keep fewer days at the edges of the season. The traps that ruin a visit are arriving outside the season and finding the centre locked, reading hours in Central time when the park runs on Mountain time, and climbing the unshaded hill on a hot afternoon when storms are building. Confirm current times before relying on them.

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