What to know

Population: About 1,000.

Airport: Nearest major commercial air service is in Wichita, Kan.

More information: Contact the Chase County Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 362, Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845. 1-800-431-6344.

Getting there

From the Twin Cities, take Interstate Hwy. 35 south to Kansas City. Stay on I-35/Hwy. 50 through Kansas City and on southwest to Emporia, Kan. I-35 continues south to Wichita at the Kansas Turnpike. Hwy. 50 continues west to Strong City. Cottonwood Falls is one mile south of Strong City. Cottonwood Falls is about 580 miles from Minneapolis.

Where to stay

Grand Central Hotel, 215 Broadway, 1-800-951-6763 or 1-316-273-6763. Built in 1884 and restored in 1995, the Grand Central bills itself as "a small, elegant hotel with a Western flair." The hotel has 10 suites, each "branded" with a different Chase County ranch. Rates run from $109 to $200 a night for double occupancy, depending upon the room and time of the year. The hotel also has a dining room.

For the bed-and-breakfast set, there's the 1874 Stonehouse on Mulberry Hill, Rt. 1 Box 67A, Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845. 1-316-273-8481. The house has three guest rooms with private baths. It also offers a rural setting, with the Cottonwood River, woods and a stocked fishing pond. $75 a night.

For a "yippee-eye-aye" cowboy experience, the Clover Cliff Ranch Bed N' Breakfast, is on a 4,000-acre working ranch. It features a limestone mansion built in 1860 that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It's on Hwy. 50 east of Strong City. Address: Rt. 1, Box 30-1, Elmdale, KS 66850. Phone: 1-800-457-7406.

There are also some "mom and pop" motels in Cottonwood Falls and Strong City.

Where to eat

The Cottonwood Falls-Strong City area has several good local restaurants, including the Wagon Wheel Cafe in Strong City and Mary's Place, Emma Chase Cafe, and the Grand Central Hotel, all in Cottonwood Falls.

Museums

The Chase County Historical Society, Friend and Broadway Sts., is in the former Chase County National Bank, constructed in 1882. The museum features memorabilia from the book "PrairyErth," artifacts from the 1931 Knute Rockne airplane crash site, a turn-of-the-century school room, the E.C. Roberts rodeo collection and a 1910 dentist's office. They even have the boots and walking staff William Least Heat Moon used while traversing the area. Closed Mondays and Thursdays.

The Roninger Museum, south of the courthouse in Cottonwood Falls, features one of the largest collections of arrowheads in Kansas and other Indian artifacts.

Other attractions

Chase County has 11 buildings on the National Register of Historical Places. Notable among these, of course, is the French Renaissance-styled Chase County Courthouse.