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Tour: Bleeding Kansas North

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The northern part of our Bleeding Kansas tour is about 300 miles long and takes you to interesting sites in northeastern Kansas. It does include couple of stops in Missouri. You should be able to complete this tour in a single day, although it will be a fairly long day.

Drawing of the Free State Hotel after its destruction during the Sack of Lawrence

The tour begins in Plattsburg, Missouri, home to David Rice Atchison, before moving into northeastern Kansas. Then the tour picks up The Lane Trail near Sabetha, Kansas and follows it past Holton, Kansas before arriving in Topeka, Kansas for a stop at the Kansas Museum of History. After Topeka the tour proceeds to the center of the Free State movement, Lawrence, Kansas. Then on to the territorial capital, Lecompton, Kansas, before finishing just a few miles north of Oskaloosa, Kansas. This tour is about 300 miles long.

For the adventurous, there are two alternate tour stops, each of which would add a lot of miles to the tour.

After leaving Plattsburg, Missouri, you may find it interesting to head up to Tabor, Iowa, the site of an important stop for emigrating free-state supporters and an improtant station on the Underground Railroad. This would add about 150 miles to the length of the tour.

After leaving the Kansas Museum of History, you could head out to Fort Riley Military Reservation near Junction City, Kansas to the site of the First Territorial Capital of Kansas. This would add about 120 miles to the length of the tour.

 



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