Cottonwood Connections
A video series presentation by The Friends of Cottonwood Ranch  ----  Featuring Don Rowlinson  /  Directed by Ed Lowry
“History comes from people living on the land, the grassroots. It starts here.”
Don Rowlison, archeologist and curator of Cottonwood Ranch Historic Site
The following documentaries are provided below.
To View, Select & Click An Episode Or Scroll Down.
Cottonwood Connections Series
Forthcoming
  • Episode 3: Archeology
  • Episode 4: The Clothes
  • Episode 5: Discovering the Prehistoric Past
  • Episode 6: The Role of Mail Oder in Settling the Plains

Legacy of Cottonwood Ranch
The Legacy of Cottonwood Ranch, a documentary shown on PBS stations across Kansas, provides a unique understanding of early settlement on the high plains of the Sunflower State by sharing a family’s history, preserved and recorded through the decades in stunning photography, detailed ledgers, and beautiful stone structures quarried short miles from the now historic site. 

In the documentary, Don Rowlison, with help from some friends, guides us through the history of the Pratt family who built Cottonwood and how they immigrated from England to start a community on the rolling “sea of grass” in the middle of North America's Great Plains.

Cottonwood Connections
Episode 2: Life of the Cowboys
  • Along with his roles as curator and archeologist, Don Rowlison is a noted cowboy historian. For years his “Out of the Bedroll” program educated groups around Western Kansas about the real lives of these “hired hands on horseback” who became icons of the American West.

Episode 1: Building With Stone
  • One of the key features of the Cottonwood Ranch Historic Site is the beautifully preserved stone buildings. Don Rowlison shares why settlers on the Great Plains in the late 1800s so frequently used stone in construction and how they did it.