Groundwater Discovery Adventure
Location: Main Level
Grab an explorer hat and dig for fossils in Hastings Museum's Groundwater Discovery Adventure!
Cook up dinner next to our 9 x 14 foot log cabin!
Hides and artifacts for role playing make our tipi one popular place!
Conduct water experiments from our bubbling spring.
Discover the importance of groundwater on the Central Plains in the hands-on exhibit!
Our Groundwater Discovery Adventure includes a paleontology dig site, water station, a plains Indians settlement and a completely furnished 1857 Nebraska log cabin. Dress-up clothes and other items are available for young explorers.
How do all these things relate to groundwater? Without groundwater, there would be no fossils. Native Americans relied on rivers and planted crops in flood plains. When pioneers moved west and built more permanent settlements, they tended to build along rivers first – as they’d have to haul water to the cabin until wells were dug.
This area is very popular with younger Museum guests, and it helps families explore the Ogallala aquifer and the importance of groundwater to the development of the central plains in an engaging hands-on environment.
A floor to ceiling prairie landscape mural covers all of the walls and the entrance to the center, while “soil” covers the floors. Two paleontology dig areas at the entrance allow you to dig for fossils and teeth with shovels and brushes.
Behind the paleo dig is the water area featuring a simulated spring bubbling out of the Ogallala aquifer which flows through a raised stream half-way out into the room. Water trickles through the stream, allowing pioneers to dam the water at six points and lift gates to irrigate a crop area and divert the stream.
A replica of a Native American tipi furnished with hides and Indian artifacts allow for role playing, as does a 9 by 14 foot log cabin.
The cabin, built in 1857 by John Adams, founder of the village of Adams in Gage County, was moved in the 1900s to Kenesaw. In the 1980s the cabin was donated to Kenesaw, which then donated it to the Museum. A hay mattress, cook stove, wash tubs, clothing and other gear put your pioneers in the middle of the action!
