The Flint Hills Discovery Center: Manhattan, Kansas

Many people, perhaps even you, hold a compelling impression regarding The Sunflower State – that of arrow straight roads dividing checkerboard fields of grain that stretch from horizon to horizon. And to be honest, so did I before moving here in 2023. But then again, I too had never heard of the rolling Flint Hills, home to the last significant stands of Tall Grass Prairie.

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If you have ever crossed Kansas from east to west, or west to east, the chances are you took Interstate 70. And if you did, then probably without your knowing it, you crossed a stretch of rolling hill country that I have come to know and love as … The Flint Hills, a 3.7-million-acre tallgrass prairie landscape spanning the U.S. states of Kansas and Oklahoma. However, while zooming along at freeway speeds it is very easy indeed to completely miss the spectacle that awaits you once you take an off-ramp and head either north or south, because the Flint Hills is primarily a north-south affair, being much taller than it is wide. In fact, the object of today’s post is to get you to go and enjoy the splendid Flint Hills Discovery Center in ‘The Little Apple’ of Manhattan, Kansas, before you take to the near deserted rural roads, for reasons I am about to reveal. Similarly, if you set out to visit Council Grove – located in the Heart of the Flint Hills, to reach my Stoneworks, then an hour or so preparing yourself for the treat that awaits in the Tallgrass Prairie wouldn’t go amiss – mark my words, you’ll see things a lot more vividly if you visit the Discovery Center first.

Please click on a photo to enlarge.

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An unassuming building at first sight, the Flint Hills Discovery Center presents a spectacle that greets eye with a complex wall of various hued limestones, mixed in with layers of flint, that together present the geological make up of the Flint Hills in what I am reliably informed is a very accurate representation of the geology that constitutes the beautiful rolling landscape that stretches over nearly four million acres.

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Probably quite unnoticed at the entrance stand various rectangular blocks of stone that would no doubt escape notice to most people, but immediately I understood that they were put there to draw attention to the fact that the local limestone, called Native Stone in the vicinity, and the namesake flint of the Flint Hills, lay side by side and one above the other throughout the region, making for a complex quilt of softer carvable limestone, right next to rock-hard flint. Which, I imagine, makes quarrying a somewhat complex and intriguing task, to say the least. Never-the-less, nothing went to waste, as we will see, it was and is all still used one way or another.

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Upon entry, we are faced with a large circular hall from which the various attractions present themselves in a quite labyrinth manner, making it possible to wind through the various exhibits at will. A clock announces the immersive large screen ‘Voices of the Flint Hills’ presentation that is a must for everyone who walks through the door. So be sure to take time out to attend a showing at some point during your visit, you’ll be glad you did.

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I won’t spoil the effect for you, as it comes as quite a surprise, but as part of the show, actual smoke billows up from below the screen during the ‘Voices of the Flint Hills’ presentation, along with various other effects, including the wind of a storm, and the boom of thunder – all very, very entertaining and informative indeed. You will leave just impatient to get out there in the hills for yourself, and lucky for you, it’s just about everywhere upon leaving Manhattan.

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No doubt the ‘Voices of the Flint Hills’ presentation will interrupt your meandering around the various attractions presented on the ground floor. Here’s the center’s own list of the sort of things you will encounter: Uncover the magnificence and mystery of the Flint Hills, the last major stand of the tallgrass prairie, through our permanent exhibits located on the first floor. The Center will captivate your entire family with interactive and interpretive exhibits that tell the story of the Flint Hills. Begin your journey today to uncover the robust ecosystem and rich cultural history of this very special place. During your exploration, you’ll discover these dynamic exhibits: The Voices of the Flint Hills / Where the Air Is So Pure / Blowing Winds in the Tallgrass Prairie / Fanning the Flames / Winds of the Past / Underground Forest / Shaping Winds & Waters.

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OK, I’ll just let you wander around. I won’t try to tag and explain everything, but this should give you a good idea of what you’ll find at the discovery center, and what an amazing landscape and culture you will explore for yourself once you are out and about and free to roam the nearly four million acres of Tallgrass Prairie that constitutes the Flint Hills of Kansas, for yourself – or yourselves, if you have the pleasure of company on your journey of discovery.

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Speaking as something of an ‘old timer’ myself now, I find it strange to think that in my own lifetime some of these people may possibly have been alive and well. And that’s what is interesting in thinking that ‘ancient history’ here in Kansas stretches back, pretty much, to the arrival of the railroads in the late nineteenth century, although settlers did begin to arrive a few decades earlier, and the Kaw Indians quite a long time before that. But generally speaking, the towns, the farmhouses, churches and assorted homes, civic buildings and all the trappings of civilization are a relatively recent phenomenon – something that, coming from England, I have to remind myself, frequently. It all serves to bring the past very much alive.

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Thankfully, the Discovery Center chose to include a few detailed photos of the men who quarried the local Native Limestone from the very fields which we are about to tour. I must say, they look quite capable, as you would expect, organized, of course, and a good deal confident. Happy, too, if I am not mistaken. It must have been a hard but rewarding profession, and one that, also thankfully, lives on to this very day.

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Even here in the rolling Flint Hills of Kansas, the roads do pretty much conform to roughly a north-south, east-west direction, but whereas in the vast majority of cases Kansas’ arrow straight roads know not a bend or turn of any kind, here the nature of the hilly terrain interrupts the pattern to take the right of way left or right. Needless to say, in terms of hiking, these welcome variations serve to add an element of surprise to any leisurely walk, as you never know, as they say, just what awaits around the next bend. Consequently, when such a turn does pop up, hefty slabs of field stone serve as interior corners placed to add weight and strength to what is usually a very long stretch of taught barbed wire. And it’s not a stretch of the imagination to evoke the scene where these heavy blocks of Flint Hills Native Stone were manhandled into place by hardy men more than accustomed to such demanding work. If you look closely, I swear you can make out traces of their glove print still visible on the limestone’s rough, weatherworn surface.

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I must say that, since our arrival here in October of 2023, Kris and I have grown to love hiking these old backroads. They can get a bit dusty in summer, and the hardscrabble flinty surface requires some firm footwear, but as there is literally no traffic whatsoever, there is nothing to raise much in the way of dust other than the odd gust of rowdy Kansas wind that is apt to play tricks with the weather from time to time. But we take it all in our stride, as it were. In fact, every now and again a friendly farmer will slow down as he passes, pull to a stop and gently inquire as to whether we ‘are broke down’? Invariably, when we inform them that we are fine, and that we are merely ‘out for a walk’ they smile a broad smile, laugh “OK”, and pull away with a chuckle, no doubt looking forward to relating his experience to family and friends down the road … a piece.

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As the road twists and turns, unexpected views reveal themselves in the form of clusters of woodland, partially hidden cattle ponds and lovely traditional Flint Hills stone farmhouses, barns and various outbuildings – all constructed from flint and limestone that was either quarried nearby, in the case of window and door frames, masonry coursework and corner ‘quoins’, or pulled out of the adjoining fields for the use in the rubble walls usually seen put to use for the barns and less visible aspects of the house. And I have to say that many of these structures would look equally at home in my own country of England, such are the familiar aspects of masonic architecture. Indeed, when you add the craggy, grassy rolling hillsides, dry stone walls and animal grazing activity, it is quite easy to link these Kansas Flint Hills with the lowland farming traditions of the Pennines in my native Lancashire … and I never thought I would say that, as we headed out here from Colorado just over a year ago!

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At least from September 1^st to May 31^st, if you feel so inclined, you can follow in the footsteps of the hunters and access plenty of off-road hiking that takes you well into the heartland, but so far, we have yet to feel the lure. Perhaps one day, but I’m told that a very bright fluorescent hat and jacket are well advised.

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What these pictures cannot reveal, and struggle to showcase, is the utter quiet bordering on silence, and the vast scale and nature of the landscape. Such do these elements combine that it is very easy indeed to imagine the unimaginably large herds of Bison, lone covered wagons, and Native American tribes all making their way across it. Because essentially the panorama that presents itself is essentially unchanged, aside from the odd fence, water hole or other recent addition. But that view – you just want to drink it in, soak up the big Prairie sky and draw comfort and solace from being in and enjoying such an extraordinary place.

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Well, that’s about it for this post. There will be further forays along the backroads of the lovely Flint Hills of Kansas in future posts, as I explain in pictures and words just why I have come to love this place and hope you too will enjoy it when you come out to visit my new Martin Cooney Stoneworks, in Council Grove. I’m sure you will have a great time. But until then, it’s a goodbye from Kris, and a farewell from me, Martin Cooney, Stone Sculptor.

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Discover the Flint Hills Discovery Center:

it will Change Your Mind About Kansas

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Thanks for visiting martincooney.com

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