During your visit to Trail End State Historic Site, enjoy a self-guided tour of Kendrick Mansion with permanent exhibits featuring original furnishings throughout that demonstrate what the people who lived and worked at the site may have been like. Trail End’s 3.8 acres of grounds also offer much to explore.
Kendrick Mansion
First Floor
Enter into the foyer of the mansion and delight in dark oak paneling, columns and a staircase; hand-painted ceiling panels; and machine-woven rich red carpet and stair runners. Making your way further into the mansion you will come to the cloak and powder room originally designed with visitors of the Trail End State Historic Site in mind. Learn about how the Kendricks entertained their guests as you explore the library, drawing room and dining room. Also located on the first floor of the mansion is the butler’s pantry, kitchen and maid’s sitting room.
Second Floor
Ascending to the second floor of the mansion you will discover six bedrooms, all with private bath and some with balcony access. In the Kendrick family bedrooms marvel at the hand-painted canvas wall coverings and stenciled borders. Then, compare them to the guest bedrooms, kept relatively plain during the days the Kendrick family lived at Trail End.
Gallery Wall
Highlighted on the second floor of the mansion is the Gallery Wall. See dozens of photographs of the Kendrick family, their friends and political acquaintances. Of great significance are signed photographs the Kendricks exchanged with Presidents Calvin Coolidge, William H Taft and Woodrow Wilson, Wyoming Governors Nellie Tayloe Ross and Francis E. Warren, United States Surgeon General Hugh Smith Cumming, General John J. Pershing, and First Ladies Lou Hoover, Grace Coolidge, Eleanor Roosevelt, Florence Harding and Edith Wilson.
Third Floor
On the third floor of the Kendrick Mansion you will find a large ballroom, three staff bedrooms, a bathroom, storage space and work areas. In comparison to the first and second floors of the mansion, the third is finished plainly with bare and white painted ceilings, a trim made of simple pine, and oak and maple flooring. The third floor also contains a Hands-On zone. Once the housekeeper’s room, the Hands-On zone is filled with samples of the many materials used to build Kendrick Mansion.
Trail End Grounds
In addition to Kendrick Mansion, Trail End’s nearly four acres of groomed grounds contain many interesting features for visitors to explore. To the south of the house, you can delight in a Rose Garden with an English sundial installed in 1928, surrounding silver poplars and beautiful views of the Big Horn Mountains. Additionally the south grounds are home to Trail Orchard. Stroll among apple and plum trees. The fruit of these trees was once used by the Kendrick family cook to make jams and jellies. While the northwest grounds might look like another lush green lawn, they were originally home to a grass tennis court. Look closely to see the wire backstops that still remain behind thick coverings of Virginia creeper, honeysuckle and chokecherry.
Carriage House
West of the main house is the Carriage House. Completed in 1910, the Carriage House features the same Flemish Revival architecture as the Kendrick Mansion and was used by the Kendricks as an apartment while they awaited completion of the main house. Today the Carriage House is used as an 87-seat community theater operated by the Sheridan Civic Theatre Guild.
- In addition to the permanent exhibits of original furnishings throughout the main house, Trail End State Historic Site features a series of temporary whole-house exhibits, which by focusing on the local community, take global events and show how they impacted the everyday lives of small town Americans.