Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center, Oklahoma, United States

4ellenbee56 5:00 PM Jan 15, 2023

interesting museum
We visited here recently as part of a road trip from our home in southeastern PA out to New Mexico. The exhibits were interesting and well done, arranged in chronological order of the settlement and development of this part of OK. The attractive displays featured pioneer artifacts, with easy-to-read signage throughout. We enjoyed the video (shown on a continuous loop) about the Cherokee Outlet Land Run of 1893, as well as the exhibits about the impact of the gas and oil industries on OK development. A large section of the museum is devoted to the history and importance of the city of Enid. Outside, several buildings comprise the Humphrey Heritage Village—a school, a church, a homestead (beautifully furnished), and a U.S. land office. (They did offer us a guided tour of the Village, but it was bitterly cold out that day, so we just looked around quickly ourselves instead.) In all, we spent 90 minutes here; it was time well spent. We also visited the Cherokee Strip Museum in Perry and the Chisholm Trail Museum in Kingfisher that same day (see separate reviews), which made for a nice day’s outing. (Of the three, this museum was the largest and most modern.) There is plentiful free parking here and a very reasonable admission charge, making it very easy and enjoyable to visit here.

5TN 5:00 PM May 11, 2021

One room schoolhouse is great
We did this as a field trip with our homeschool co-op. The one room schoolhouse was in the morning & the kids really enjoyed writing with ink & nib pens, reading from a McGuffy reader & writing on slates. They had a quick tour of the museum, saw the land run office & store, and a “mansion” (upper class house but smaller than today’s mansions for sure!). I want to come back with my teenagers when the study OK History. The guides and movie talked frankly about the Trail of Tears and Indian tribes that make up an important part of OK history as well as the land run, settlement on the prairie, and wheat & oil. Dr. Mathearn was fantastic at teaching the kids- made it interesting & still was in character. Highly recommend for schools & families (though it might not be as interesting if you didn’t do the whole one-room schoolhouse experience).