Webster County and the town of Red Cloud in Nebraska have done a lot to remember Willa Cather, a writer most known for her novels set in Nebraska, that is,
O Pioneers! and
My Antonia. Just across the border from Kansas on highway US 281 is the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie, which has remained undisturbed by a plow and commemorates the prairie that Willa Cather first discovered in 1883 at the age of nine. Within the town of Red Cloud, the community has maintained the houses where her family once lived and devotes one or two building in the downtown area to the preservation of Cather's memory and her novels.
The prairie preserve is particularly pretty and worthy of a stop when traveling either north or south on US 281. It's a great place to sit and admire the view of undisturbed grassland and to feel the wind and listen for the meadowlarks. I especially like watching the wind in the movement of the grass.
