Old Trail Town

The legends of the American frontier come alive at Old Trail Town, a living history museum, in Cody, Wyoming. Named after William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, the town is now home to dozens of preserved structures that offer a glimpse into one of the most storied times in American history. 

A 1901 carpenter shop used by pioneer George Taggart and a cabin once home to Crow native “Curley,” who served as a U.S. Army scout under General Custer, are just two of the many structures worth exploring. Each also showcases the modest furniture, tools, and other amenities of the era. 

There’s also the Coffin School, a historic one-room schoolhouse dating to 1884, which provides a peek into the rural schooling environment of the 19th- and early-20th-century West. A post office, general store, commissary, wagon barn, saloon (with bullet holes still lodged in the door), and the home of the first mayor of Cody are also on site. 

Inside the Museum of the Old West, peruse displays of authentic Native American clothing and beadwork, a 19th-century horse-drawn hearse, stone tools, and more. Several gravesites of some of the area’s early settlers share stories of the mountain men, trappers, hunters, and scouts who called this area home more than a century ago.