Walking Through History in Buffalo Bill’s Cody/Yellowstone Country
As a life-long history buff, I’ve always been a big fan of interpretive tours. Although I prefer tours that combine walking and history – two of my favorite things – I’ll also sometimes take bus tours too. I once took one of those hop-on/hop-off double-decker bus tour in London and never bothered with the hop-off part because the guide was such a great story-teller and kind of hot. (He reminded me of someone I knew back home.)
Tours are a great way to scratch beneath the surface of any destination and learn the often-inspirational stories about the people who played an important part in its evolution.
But tours are not always available when I’m ready to take one. So I was thrilled to learn about a new partnership between the Park County Travel Council, Buffalo Bill Center of the West and a mobile app from a company called TravelStorys. This free app offers a GPS-triggered audio tour of downtown Cody with a focus on little-known stories about the Cody characters like Buffalo Bill and some of its famous visitors and supporters like Andrew Carnegie and Ernest Hemingway.
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West has partnered on a walking tour project.
I recently downloaded the app and took it for a test stroll. As I walked down Sheridan Avenue I learned about a bank robbery that rocked the Cody world back in the day. And I learned things about the Irma Hotel – the hotel Buffalo Bill built and named after his daughter Irma – that I never knew before. Since I fancy myself a Cody historian, I was surprised and humbled to learn that I didn’t know everything there was to know about my chosen town.
Buffalo Bill’s Irma Hotel is highlighted on the new TravelStorys walking tour.
The world-class Buffalo Bill Center of the West is gearing up for its centennial this year, so this is a particularly good time to learn or re-learn the history of Cody and the American West. And this new mobile app makes it easier than ever to do just that.
Cody’s first bank robbery was at the First National Bank, now a jewelry store.
Until next time, I’m lovin’ life and finding new apps here in Cody/Yellowstone Country.
