Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards

Goal: $25,000.00

Specific Need

In June of 2019 the Prairie Guards expanded the Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie's educational and recreational potential by purchasing 125 acres of the historic Mitchell farm, reuniting the Mitchell Farmstead with its native prairie. This acquisition tripled the Park’s size, adding 25 acres of native prairie, and 100 acres under prairie restoration.

We are grateful to the many donors, both local and from across the country, who made this purchase possible, especially the Miller/Hammond and HHM Charitable Foundations. Their generous support made paying off the mortgage possible.

With this year's Wamego Match Day the Prairie Guards are completing Phase Two of our Education Expansion Project. This phase included building a new access road from Mount Mitchell Road to a new parking area. Water, power, and internet were brought into the Park. An ADA compliant trail to the ruts and swales of the Topeka Fort Riley Road, once used by people seeking their freedom on the Underground Railroad, is now under construction. Funds are needed to complete this work and to develop and produce the interpretive panels in the kiosk that will be installed next year.

ADDITIONAL GOOD NEWS!

The Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie Park and the Captain William and Mary Mitchell Farmstead are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie Historic District.

Mission

Preserving the Cultural Heritage of the Northern Flint Hills

Our mission since 2006 has been to promote the Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie Park to educational groups, local residents and travelers; restore the Park’s tallgrass prairie to its 1856 condition; and develop the Park by providing amenities including trails, educational exhibits, and signage to enhance the public’s enjoyment. Our activities engage and benefit the public through education, environmental preservation, recreation, and community development.

Once part of abolitionist and Underground Railroad Stationmaster Captain William Mitchell’s farm, the Park is dedicated to him and the Beecher Bible and Rifle Colony. It serves as a unique outdoor classroom where visitors can experience an ungrazed tallgrass prairie and learn about the site’s unique role as a Native American sacred place, and of the vital part it played as a pathway to the West used by mountain men, explorers, military expeditions, settlers, and freedom-seekers.

Profile

The Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards

The Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards are a non-profit organization that registered with the IRS in 2009. Our membership is comprised of local residents, and friends and supporters from throughout the country.

The Prairie Guards began as an ad hoc committee in 2001 when it was learned that the state historical society planned to return Mount Mitchell to the Mitchell family. The state had been unable to fulfill the terms of the gift. After fifty years of ownership they had not developed the public Park stipulated by the property’s donor William Izott Mitchell.

The Prairie Guards worked with local legislators and got the property returned to local control in 2006. Through their efforts the property is now known as the Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie Park.

Today the Prairie Guards:

Manage the Park's 70-acres of tallgrass prairie and 94 acres of prairie restoration located in Wabaunsee County, Kansas, south of Wamego.
Have built the Park’s infrastructure, including an access road, parking area, fencing, and two miles of walking trails.
Erected directional and interpretive signage and an information kiosk.
Manage an educational website at mountmitchellprairie.org
Have coordinated over three thousand hours of volunteer labor restoring the Park’s native tallgrass prairie.
Provided local educators with a resource for fulfilling the requirements of the Kansas Teaching Standards for History and Government, Economics and Geography.
Are founding partners of the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area.
Applied for and received official designation by the National Park Service as an authenticated Network to Freedom Underground Railroad site commemorating the Underground Railroad.
Worked to get the Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie Historic District listed on the National Register of Hitoric Places.
Successfully lobbied the Native Stone Scenic Byway committee to extend the byway to include Mount Mitchell.
Applied for and received Kansas Department of Transportation Tourist Attraction Status to erect brown attraction signs on Highway 99 directing travelers to the park.
The Park is now shown on the most recent official Kansas State Highway map.
Have fulfilled the terms of Will Mitchell’s gift of Mount Mitchell to the people of Kansas by creating the Park he envisioned to honor his father and the Beecher Bible and Rifle Colony.
Formed working relationships with the Wamego business community, the Kansas State Historical Society, Wabaunsee County Historical Society, Wamego Historical Society, Wabaunsee Township Board, Wabaunsee County Commissioners, Westar Energy Green Team, Pottawatomie County Economic Development Council, Wabaunsee County Economic Development Committee, Flint Hills Regional Council, Flint Hills Discovery Center, The Native Stone Scenic Byway Committee, The National Park Service, The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, The Citizens Band Potawatomi Nation, Wamego Chamber of Commerce, Symphony in the Flint Hills, Kansas Explorers Club, Oregon/California Trails Association, Konza Prairie, and Unified School Districts 320, 329 and 330.