• About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Pickem Terms and Conditions
Sunday, July 13, 2025
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Pickem!
    • Weekly Pickem Updates
    • Results by Week
    • The Leaderboard
    • Pickem Rules and Help
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • es_MXSpanish
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Pickem!
    • Weekly Pickem Updates
    • Results by Week
    • The Leaderboard
    • Pickem Rules and Help
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • es_MXSpanish
No Result
View All Result
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
No Result
View All Result

Gun battles, brawls a part of living history

Debbie Coleman-Topi by Debbie Coleman-Topi
July 30, 2021
in Headlines
Shoal Creek Living History Museum
8
SHARES
195
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via Email

In educational event at Shoal Creek

Spectators to gun battles and brawls at a local history museum on a recent weekend weren’t alone in their time travel experience to Missouri’s early settler days.

The approximately 20 re-enactors who donned long dresses and wool war uniforms in the steamy July heat, also enjoy the historical vantage point at the Shoal Creek Living History Museum in Kansas City, North. Lewis Case and others slipped into the past as they portrayed pioneers, law men, mountain men and outlaws who roamed the streets of nearby Missouri towns during their founding.

RelatedNews

Parkville chooses plan for easing congestion

Platte County Fair set July 23-26 in Tracy

Take survey about future of Downtown Platte City

Case, member of Elliott Scouts, a local reenactors’ group, said he uses the sights, smells and even hot, sticky weather to imagine life as experienced by his ancestors.

“It makes the past real,” he said.

Case, of Osawatomie, Kan., is a self-professed “history nut” who credits his interest in early settlements to tales spun by his grandfather when he was a boy.

Some spectators were surprised by the authenticity of re-enactments, especially the use of real weaponry at the event at the museum, which is located at 7000 NE Barry Road, Kansas City.

“We’d been here before, but didn’t know you’d be armed like this,” Doug Biggs of Kansas City told Case as he peppered the “outlaw” with questions about his revolver. Case, who along with other re-enactors at the museum perform at numerous locations, said questions about arms are common.

Denna Roe, who wore a long pioneer-style dress with hat, performed as “Bad Betty” for the estimated 500 visitors who visited the museum with its 16 authentic wood log structures, each designated for a task, such as cooking, sewing, and sleeping.

The Saturday, July 17 event marked the first since COVID on the site, which is owned by the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department and also includes a replica grist mill.

While the museum typically operates on a regular schedule throughout the summer, this year’s pandemic has caused a scaling back and irregularly timed events, said Roe, who with her husband Joe (who plays Sheriff Roe), are among eight board members of the Shoal Creek Association, which operates the site.

The normal calendar includes several annual events, such as summer openings during first Saturdays through August, an October harvest celebration with horse-drawn wagon rides and pumpkin carving and a Christmas open house featuring a visit by St. Nick.

Deena said the public should check the association’s Facebook page or website for information about upcoming events.

Shoal Creek is operated using mostly government money, but funding has been drastically reduced and, in some cases, eliminated during the pandemic, she said. As fundraisers, the site is open to rentals for weddings and other events and sells photography “passes” to professionals taking portraits for weddings, family reunions and graduations, she said.

Betty Kunkel portrays “Aunt Betty,” who said her character is inspired by her great grandmother, Elizabeth Rebecca, known as Betty. The character actor, who donned a long cotton dress and cap, plays several old-time instruments, including the dulcimer. Although she did not play at the July 17 event, she hopes to break out her instruments during future Shoal Creek happenings this year, she said.

Claire Rathbone, 9, who traveled from Springdale, Ark. to visit the museum with her family, wore period clothing much like the re-enactors as did her younger sister, Paige, and said she was surprised by at least one aspect of pioneer life-the gunfire. “It was very noisy,” she said.

Tags: Public Safety
Debbie Coleman-Topi

Debbie Coleman-Topi

Debbie’s journalism career officially began at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where she was trained. Her works have appeared in the Kansas City Star and its former Sunday Magazine, the Independence Examiner and TWINS Magazine. Since 2016, Debbie has written for The Landmark, where she has reported on a wide range of Platte County area issues and people.

Related Posts

Landmark On the Road

Landmark On the Road–In Canada

by Ivan Foley
July 10, 2025
0

Joe Wellington, former police chief for Platte City, poses in Yellowknife, Canada with a copy of The Landmark. Wellington and his group spent two weeks in Yellowknife, which is 2,500 miles north and west from Platte City. The group spent...

30 Years Ago–July 13, 1995

by Ivan Foley
July 9, 2025
0

Eight girls are seeking the crown to be worn by the 1995 Platte County Fair Queen. Candidates include: Jennifer Cox, 17, sponsored by The Landmark Newspaper; Ginger Hass, 19, sponsored by Ida Cox; Ashley Jenks, 19, sponsored by Professional Eye...

Nathan Willett

Nathan Willett says he’ll run for state senate

by Landmark Digital
July 8, 2025
0

FOR SPOT CURRENTLY HELD BY LUETKEMEYER Nathan Willett, a proven conservative grassroots leader and First District Kansas City Councilman, has officially announced his candidacy for the Missouri State Senate, District 34. Willett aims to succeed Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, who is...

Police

Driver, 18, killed in Hwy. 45 crash

by Landmark Digital
July 7, 2025
0

TWO VEHICLE COLLISION NEAR KISKER ROAD A two vehicle crash on Hwy. 45 in Platte County on July 3 killed a driver from Kansas City, Kan. The Platte County Sheriff’s Office responded to the crash at 3:50 p.m. on Thursday,...

Next Post
Lane closure

Hwy. 92 improvement work set this week

Popular News

  • Police

    Driver, 18, killed in Hwy. 45 crash

    106 shares
    Share 42 Tweet 27
  • Platte City Lions Club has pulled the plug

    40 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • Parkville chooses plan for easing congestion

    14 shares
    Share 6 Tweet 4
  • Nathan Willett says he’ll run for state senate

    12 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • County, city extend lease on former City Hall

    9 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 2
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Pickem Terms and Conditions
Call us at 816-858-0363

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Subscribe Online
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Pickem
    • Results by Week
    • The Leaderboard
    • Pickem Rules and Help
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • es_MXSpanish

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved