Pawhuska OK

We used our free day in Bartlesville OK to travel 20 miles to Pawhuska, in the Osage Reservation, and capital of Osage Nation. We visited the Osage Nation Museum, which is a nice little museum chronicling the history of the Osage tribe – including the period in the 1920’s when white men married Osage women, then murdered them, specifically to obtain the rights to the oil that had been found on tribal lands. Several dozen Osage Indians were murdered during this period. Murderous greed.

We also walked around downtown Pawhuska, which was a fairly interesting small town with some interesting shops featuring Osage crafts. We had some ice cream and marveled at the line which wrapped around The Mercantile. We learned that Pawhuska is home to the Pioneer Woman, one of the most popular chefs on the Food Network. She actually is in the restaurant on Fridays and Saturdays and people travel hundreds of miles to see her and sample her new recipes.

We didn’t stand in line.