7 Kansas Roadside Stops Worth the Detour, According to People Who Live There
On a long drive across Kansas, the miles can start to run together.
A good stop breaks that up, and locals know which ones are worth leaving the highway for.
Here’s where Kansans say you should pull over on your next trip.
1. Monument Rocks
Monument Rocks is a cluster of chalk formations in Gove County, made from the remains of single-celled organisms that settled about 80 million years ago.
A seaway covered the middle of the country back then.
Voters picked it as one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas in the Kansas Sampler Foundation’s overall contest, which closed its voting in December 2007.
The foundation announced the top eight in January 2008.
Its list names the site Monument Rocks and Castle Rock.
The land is private.
The Kansas Sampler Foundation says the owners let you visit without special permission.
Climbing, fossil hunting, camping, littering and bonfires are prohibited.
Some of the roads in are dry-weather roads only.
2. Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden in Lucas shares an entry with the town itself as one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas Art.
Samuel Perry Dinsmoor, a Civil War veteran, built it.
The Kansas Sampler Foundation says he made sculptures there that carry messages about Populist politics, modern civilization and the Bible.
He used 113 tons of cement to build trees that hold his larger-than-life figures.
Dinsmoor stopped work in 1929 after going blind.
You can view the exterior sculptures at any time, according to the garden’s website.
Guided tours of the cabin home and mausoleum are offered daily from May through October.
What Eight Wonders of Kansas Art Is
Eight Wonders of Kansas Art is one of eight category contests the Kansas Sampler Foundation ran after its overall vote.
The other seven covered architecture, commerce, cuisine, customs, geography, history and people.
Each category ran a four-month contest cycle.
The whole series finished in 2010.
When you see an Eight Wonders label at an attraction, it can come from the overall list or from one of these category contests.
3. Big Well
The Kansas Sampler Foundation bills Greensburg’s Big Well as the world’s largest hand-dug well.
The shaft is 32 feet wide and 109 feet deep, with stone walls two feet thick.
Diggers started in 1887.
The job took nearly two years.
The well supplied Greensburg with water until 1932.
Greensburg began promoting it as a tourist stop in 1939.
A tornado destroyed the above-ground structures on May 7, 2007, and a new museum opened on May 26, 2012.
The guidebook says you descend a white circular metal staircase and can toss coins to make wishes.
4. Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve sits along Kansas Highway 177 near Strong City and covers nearly 11,000 acres.
Less than 4% of the continent’s original tallgrass prairie remains intact, according to the National Park Service, mostly in the Kansas Flint Hills.
Many Kansans will tell you this is where to see what the prairie looked like.
Spring Hill Ranch, on the preserve, has a limestone mansion built in 1881 and a three-level limestone barn built in 1882.
You can hike the preserve’s trails or tour those historic buildings.
The park service’s hours page, last updated in July 2024, lists the visitor center and historic buildings as open daily, closing only on major holidays.
5. Basilica of St. Fidelis
The Basilica of St. Fidelis in Victoria goes by the Cathedral of the Plains.
Its twin bell towers are 141 feet tall, according to Travel Kansas.
Builders put up the native-limestone church between 1908 and 1911.
It was the largest church west of the Mississippi River when it was built.
The Kansas Sampler Foundation’s overall winners list includes St. Fidelis, selected as one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas in 2008.
If you step inside, the church has seating for 1,100 people.
Self-guided tours are available too.
Psst! How much do you know about Kansas landmarks? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
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S.P. Dinsmoor, who built the Garden of Eden in Lucas, claimed he’d do what to anyone who paid to tour it?
6. Big Brutus
Big Brutus is a mining shovel that stands 160 feet tall in West Mineral.
It ran around the clock from 1963 until 1974, according to the Kansas Sampler Foundation's guidebook.
Its bucket cleared the dirt and rock off coal seams instead of digging coal.
You can walk up to the bucket and climb five stories into the operator's cabin.
Big Brutus was a finalist in the overall Eight Wonders of Kansas contest.
7. Mushroom Rock State Park
Mushroom Rock State Park covers 5 acres in Ellsworth County.
The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks says it was voted one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas in 2010.
The Sampler's geography page lists it as a shared entry with Rock City in the Eight Wonders of Kansas Geography.
The mushroom shapes are sandstone concretions cemented by calcium carbonate.
Native Americans and pioneers including John C. Frémont and Kit Carson also used the site as a meeting place.
You don't need a vehicle permit, the department says.
You can walk two trails there year-round.
Who Picked the Wonders
The vote wasn't limited to Kansans, according to the Kansas Sampler Foundation's contest history.
Every contest began with public nominations, and a selection committee then chose 24 finalists from them.
Votes in each contest came from every state and some foreign countries.
The history page doesn't say how many of the votes came from Kansans.
In the end, more than 100,000 people voted for their favorite wonder.
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