Fort Robinson Family Reunions

The Buttes overlooking Fort Robinson

Family reunions, whether you like them or dread them, are part of the American lifestyle.  It has been our family’s tradition since 2007 to have a Labor Day McCoy Family Reunion…and since Labor Day is only a couple weeks off, we are busy making plans for our 10^th annual reunion.

Those present the first year in 2007

The first five years we met at Fort Robinson in northwest Nebraska where we rented some of their facilities and took advantage of the activities offered to have a good time.

Fort Robinson, now a Nebraska State Park, was begun in 1874 as a temporary military outpost during the turmoil of the frontier Indian Wars.  It served in many capacities until 1948 when it ceased to be a military post.  For a few years the United States Department of Agriculture used it as a beef research facility until the early 1970’s.  After the USDA phased out its beef research operation, it was transferred to the State of Nebraska for public use.

The Nebraska State Historical Society Ft. Robinson Museum

The Nebraska State Historical Society operates a museum on the grounds documenting the history of the Fort.  There are still many other buildings at the Fort which tell the story of its rich and interesting history.

The "adobes" we stayed in the first year

We decided to check out this interesting Nebraska State Park and have never been sorry.  I believe the first two years and the last year, we rented two “adobes” where we stayed.  These were officers’ quarters in the post days and have been renovated to include kitchens, baths, living rooms and bedrooms.  During our stay in years 3 and 4, we rented one of several “Victorians” which were also officers’ quarters with 3 floors of bedrooms, a couple of bathrooms and a kitchen plus living room.  One of the best features about the adobes and the Victorians is the large front porches which offer a lot of opportunity to sit and enjoy the peacefulness of the campgrounds.

Our "Victorian" accommodations

There are other forms of lodging available on the campgrounds.  Dodd Hall sleeps 60 if you are looking for a place to hold a big family reunion, the Fort lodge which has hotel-like rooms, and the enlisted men’s quarters.

It is fun to imagine how life must have been for military personnel back in the late 1800’s as they lived on the vast Nebraska prairie and faced the isolation and dangers from Indian attacks that were a part of life at Fort Robinson.  Many of them men brought their families with them to also face the dangers and loneliness of life in Nebraska in this era.

Ft. Robinson Lodge

So, what can you do while you are there?  Besides the Historical Society Museum, there is also a museum called the Trailside Museum of Natural History which has some very interesting displays including “The Clash of the Mammoths” and other fossils from the region. 

There are several horse barns where you can stall horses if you choose to bring them along, or you can use some of the camp horses and enjoy an early morning trail ride led by a guide.  You can take the Jeep ride to the buttes overlooking Fort Robinson, complete with guides who are eager to explain the geography and history of the area plus answer any questions you might ask.

View of Ft. Robinson from the Buttes

For those who prefer to be active, which was not me, they have an Olympic sized pool and tennis courts.  If you are just interested in seeing the park, there is a horse-drawn wagon ride around the Fort.  For those who really want to get an idea of what frontier life was like, you can also take a buggy ride, which is fun but rough, probably much like it was 100+ years ago.

Horse-drawn wagon tour

Tandem bicycling was great entertainment

As you can see, there is something for everyone at Fort Robinson which made it ideal for our family with the variety of ages that we had.

It is our family’s tradition that each family takes a turn fixing a meal so that no one is stuck in the kitchen the whole weekend.  It became a tradition for me to freeze up a couple of freezers full of homemade ice cream as a treat for a hot summer afternoon.  The food planning begins well ahead of time so that we are sure we have all the bases covered and no one goes hungry.

The family on the stairway in our Victorian

The first year, we stopped in Chadron on our way to the reunion to pick up a few supplies for the weekend.  When we came out of Walmart we had a piece of paper stuck on our windshield say, “Last one there’s the rotten egg.”  The handwriting was strangely similar to our son Michael’s handwriting.  Turns out they were in the store when we were but dodged us throughout the store and got a head start on arriving at the Fort.  Each year after that, the challenge went out via text to all parties to not be the last to arrive!

A spirited game of Scrabble in progress

We soon discovered that two days was never enough time to do all we wanted to do.  We brought cards and board games, usually Scrabble, to entertain the adults.  The kids ran around in, literally, acres.  And, quite frankly, some of us just didn’t plan to work or think or put forth much more effort than to just sit and talk.

One of my fondest memories was from the first year at the Fort when I awoke ahead of everyone else and was able to spend time sitting by myself on the back porch enjoying the peaceful quiet of the cool morning.  10 years later I still recall the enjoyment of that morning.

Son-in-law Michael in an awesome display of brawn

The family at Toadstool Park

The last year we visited Fort Robinson, we took a trip to Toad Stool Park.  If you’ve never been there, this would be a great site to visit.  We hiked the mile loop through the park and thoroughly enjoyed our time there. 

Looks dangerous!

But all good things must come to an end and we all had to get back to our day-to-day lives, so on Monday afternoon we all packed up, took all the family pictures, and said our good-byes as we headed for home.

So you might be wondering what happened to our family reunions, and why we no longer go to Fort Robinson.  Our family has continued to increase in size through the years until we are now big enough that it would require that we rent more space to sleep.  And, while this is definitely a wonderful place to visit, it’s not cheap.  Plus we had done almost every activity at least twice and felt we needed a change of venue.  So now we meet at our son Michael and his wife Sarah’s house at Hermosa, South Dakota each Labor Day and take in the sights and activities of the Black Hills.  It’s unlikely that we will soon exhaust the array of activities available to us in the Hills. 

Those in attendance in 2008 with the Buttes behind us

We are once again making plans for food and activities and trying to figure out where everyone will sleep.  A lot of things change from year to year, but one thing remains the same…we always look forward to spending time together as a family.

Me and my honey happy to have spent time with the family!