One of my all-time favorite towns is Cody, Wyoming. Situated at the base of the Absaroka Mountains, Cody is the eastern gateway community for Yellowstone National Park. The heart of Cody’s main street business district exhibits Western charm. Some buildings are original with the centerpiece being the Irma Hotel, which Buffalo Bill Cody built and named for his daughter. You get the feeling that you could easily see cowboys riding in on horses and tying them up at a hitching post along the main street. I appreciate that there are still some places like Cody that retain a connection with their past.
The town was founded in 1896, partially to provide services and accommodations for people traveling to Yellowstone National Park from the east. William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody was one of the founders and the town is named for him. He was so named because of his expertise and success in buffalo hunting. However, he was probably best known for starting and making famous his Wild West Show that toured throughout the world. In many ways, he brought attention and fame to the American West.
Cody’s main attraction is the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. The Center includes five separate museums: the Buffalo Bill Museum, the Cody Firearms Museum, the Plains Indian Museum, the Whitney Western Art Museum, and the Draper Museum of Natural History. It also includes a gift shop, cafeteria, coffee bar, chuckwagon Dutch oven dinners, special temporary exhibitions, live raptor programs, and the McCracken Research Library.
The Center, encompassing 300,000 square feet of space, is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and the five museums are of exceptional quality. I can’t think of a better place to be introduced to the American West. My suggestion would be to devote at least a half day for visiting the Center and an entire day would probably be better. If you don’t have time to do that, then plan ahead and choose which museums you want to see while there.
There is a fee for visiting the Center. For specific information, I would suggest that you consult their website at https://www.centerofthewest.org. If you love the American West and you like museums, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West is a must visit. I can’t recommend it highly enough.