46 Nebraskaland • November 2020
needed a break. I had been sitting
on a bucket for two days coaching
11-year-old softball players. Any
sort of adventure, even a small one,
was going to do me some mental good.
So I went for a drive. This has been a
long-standing mode of decompression
in the Kurrus family going back to my
parents when I was a kid. What was
diff erent on this day, however, was I
was armed with the Explore Nebraska
History app — a tool that would
change these drives forever.
I came across the app by accident,
while looking for additional
information on the New Pennsylvania
Cemetery historical marker near my
home and hoping history.nebraska.gov
would be able to tell me something.
The site encouraged me to download
the app.
This is when my adventure began.
The app divided the state's historical
markers into categories. The Stories
category allowed me to see what
markers were in my area, making any
day-long or multi-day trip as close as
I wanted to drive. For example, when
I pulled up my hometown of Gretna,
51 historical markers landed within
20 miles, with the New Pennsylvania
Cemetery being just 1.31 miles away.
I started to drive. My fi rst stop was
at a rest stop just west of Gretna on
Interstate 80 — The Great Platte
Valley. In the distance, nothing
impressed me: a cellphone tower, big
machinery and crop fi elds. But I still
couldn't help but think about some of
the words on the marker: "The Pawnee
and Oto established large earthlodge
villages near here … By the late 1850s,
it was estimated that 90% of all traffi c
which crossed the Plains followed the
Platte … The famous Pony Express
followed the Platte Valley, as did the fi rst
transcontinental telegraph line."
So I made a note to myself to further
my research on the Pony Express,
seeking to learn who had written the
quintessential book regarding this
short-lived phenomenon in American
history.
The next closest site, according to
my app, was at Eugene T. Mahoney
State Park — the Prehistoric Burial
Site marker. I had driven by this
marker a hundred times before, not
once allowing this line to resonate:
"Archaeological evidence indicates
that the bodies were exposed to the
elements until only bones remained.
Just Around
the Corner
Story and photos by Jeff Kurrus
The Prehistoric Burial Site marker in Eugene T. Mahoney State Park is within
eyesight of cabins and the park's mini-lodges.
There are 53 marked graves at the New Pennsylvania
Cemetery east of Gretna.
I
There are 53 marked graves at the New Pennsylvania
The Prehistoric Burial Site marker in Eugene T Mahoney State Park is within
An Adventure Story
