Would be nice if this was passed down within the family of those that would take care of this…read moreplace. Being part of Sauer, sadly most of my mom's side of the family is still racist. Wasn't able to take part of both my grandparents funerals due to my race. Mostly the men in the family but regardless of the facts. This castle isn't being taken care of and up for sale with an ridiculous price. We also have a Castle located in Germany, along with family crest. Kind of unique to be apart of a family history but not really accepted.

Sauer Castle is in the National Register of Historic Places, it's a Kansas City must-see if you've…read morenever taken the haunting trip to the top of the bluff where this mansion sits undisturbed for decades. In high school, from Miege to St. Teresa's Academy, crossing state lines, the rumors about Sauer were EPIC and very popular to tell around Halloween. Sauer castle is haunted, according to the ghostly experts and as the story goes... During the Civil War a man leaves his wife to go fight. She waits for him for years, longing for his return and reading his infrequent letters home. Towards wars end, she receives his final letter stating that he is coming home on a certain day on a certain ferry and requesting that she wait for him. When he never arrived, she believed he was dead and frenzied, she hung herself in the infamous bell tower. Her husband, alive, missed his ferry home and later arrived to find his wife dead. It is said that in the front yard he shot himself. Sauer Castle was built by the German immigrant Anton Sauer and has remained in the family for 5 generations - in which the castle has seen many more deaths of natural and unnatural causes. Legend has it that treasure is buried here (however sources say this rumor began from the original fact that the house was built over an antique storage of wine.) Other legends include there is a secret tunnel leading to the Kaw River (others distort this rumor to make it a slave tunnel), or that the ghost of Mary Sauer stands in the windows of the fourth floor looking out onto her property at night. There was a man who died of tuberculosis here, a baby died as well within these walls, and a child was drown. Perhaps what solidified its eerie persona is the foreboding sign in the front that reads: PRIVATE PROPERTY, TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED! BEWARE OF DOGS! Here's where I come into the story: I was young and stupid, it was a boring Friday night and my friends and I thought it would be something to talk about on Monday if we somehow got into Sauer Castle and checked out if it were haunted for ourselves. With my two other good friends, we set out on the property while two other friends waited in the car for our return. What we weren't aware of was that three guard dogs that could have well ripped me apart were stationed around the house. I was only cognizant of one, chained to a large radius of land towards the front of the house, but in truth there were two more. We steered clear of this one dog and kept to the side of the house until we came upon the old slave quarters behind the property. It was here we saw a small window opening to the basement of Sauer Castle...STUPID, STUPID me...I went in (after my two friends.) And what we saw was no different than the last scene of the Blair Witch Project, an empty stone basement with nothing in it but AN ACTUAL STONE WELL in the very center...creepy as all hell. That's when we saw the caretaker with a flashlight and rifle coming towards us. My two dear 'friends' climbed out of there first leaving me with no cell phone light, no knee to climb on. I had to scratch my way up with them pulling on my arms as I had been entirely alone in Sauer Castle. Finally, the three of us hauled ass to the car and sped off before we were caught as trespassers and prosecuted!!! Oh, what a night...something I will NEVER do again and a story I will NEVER forget. Is Sauer Castle haunted? From the fright of feeling trapped in the stone basement with nothing beside me but an old well...I would say yes.

This is a great space! I had never heard of them before, but they are a great find on behalf of…read moreYelp! I took lots of photos to convey exactly what this place is like. There are craft spaces, a plant shop, a vintage decor shop, candles/incense, clothing, KC-specific gear, and just all-around fun gifts. The staff was helpful but not "in-your-face" which is very appreciated in a store like this. We will be going back in Jan to check out some of their crafting offerings and have already begun planning with our bigger group of friends for that kind of get-together to stave off the Jan/Winter Blues. The candles are phenomenal and I now have too many... and realize I should have gotten some of the melts instead. :D

Such a cute spot! If you're looking for plants, books, clothes, or a place to craft, this is your…read morespot! Service was great in the café area, and the prices were reasonable.

One of the best single subject museums we've ever visited (and we've visited a lot). A class act…read more So well done. When you drive up there is the museum portion, which includes multiple rooms and a theater with a video. Of course, also a gift shop with great items to take home. You walk outside, with a provided information sheet, and can visit the James homestead which is just a few steps away via a charming country path surrounded by trees and pastureland. Very picturesque and full of history. The dedicated folks working here, both paid and volunteer, are helpful and warmly friendly. Likely you will run into someone with actual family history connected to the James' family. The amount of memorabilia (Jesse James' saddle! A piece of his original gravestone, etc.) they have managed to collect demonstrates not only their diligence but also the deep love of the legend that exists in the area.

Craig Hockenberry…read more This stop was like stepping into my childhood! My dad talked about Jesse James around camp fires and night time stories. I always had a interested in him and Frank and the Younger Brothers. The staff was amazing and the price was low. I also visited his final resting place CRAIG HOCKENBERRY

Wow, such a fun experience. These 2 "characters", Benny "The Bull" and I never caught the main…read moreguide's name were just dialed in! They had that presentation memorized down to the second. Even with unknowns like getting stuck in traffic and stop lights they managed to keep everything flowing. If any family members or friends come into town, I'll gladly recommend this tour over and over again

We really enjoyed this tour! The actors play off each other with corny jokes and accents, it's so…read morefun! The tour was about 90 min, kind of educational, more interesting to us as we like to learn and read about the gangster eras. It's on a short bus, I wouldn't go with a large group, it's two by two seats and one long seat in the back for about 4-5 people. You can't always see out the window but they describe what happened at that area. It's something different and fun to do, worth the $30 something we spent.

Great bridge to run or walk across for some pretty views of the Missouri River!…read more I appreciate that they have an elevator as well as stairs so it's more accessible. This reminds me of running along the Schuylkill River in Philly!

Came here because I was so close from being at the City Market because I wanted to see the view. It…read morewas a pretty short bridge to the river and the views were nice but I'm not going to call it spectacular because all you can really see is the river and a couple of bridges. The area is pretty industrial. You can also go downstairs which I didn't really have time to but there's paths where you can walk and run and also get a different view. Overall a quick stop if you have some time. A good escape from a busy area to sip a coffee or something (which is what I did...)

Very nice state historical site with picnic area, restroom, and groomed half-mile courage trail…read moreloop through the field. Open sunrise to sunset, with plenty of reading material about the Battle of Island Mound and Toothman Property.

I'm told that every first Friday weekend in the West Bottoms (Fri.-Sun.), a historic district comes…read morealive and is home to antiques and boutiques which are open late. We weren't so fortunate to be there on those days however but still managed a couple of trips to this industrial district. I'm an amateur shutter-bug and places like this intrigue me. The empty streets, abandoned buildings, railroad tracks and rawness appeals to me and the fact that this was the heart and soul of Kansas City back in the day feeds my desire to learn about the history of this beautiful city. We came late in the afternoon and just walked the streets. A few shops were open but the majority of them were closed. Best way I can describe the place is it's pretty-ugly. Not everyone can appreciate the beauty in worn out, dilapidated buildings. I loved it! Stockyard warehouses with the broken glass windows, fire escapes that precariously dangle on the sides of buildings, thistle laden lots, the painted signs on the sides of brick walls - everything was a photo op. My biggest faux-pas? I didn't pack my "good" camera and it was amusing to walk around fairly unplugged with only an i-phone to shoot with (and to top it off, my storage was full LOL!!). I guess that was a sign from the universe allowing me to experience the West Bottoms. Some blocks of the Bottoms was so quiet it was eerie! I could sense something or someone watching from above or somewhere. Loved it all! Beautiful and would certainly come back again. We saw a few homeless people walking around with their shopping carts but overall, felt safe. I would hate to see this place excessively commercialized and I'm so happy to see that tenants are filling the empty warehouses and embracing KC's historical past and merging it with the new.

I have a strange fascination with the West Bottoms district. I'm surprised no one has reviewed the…read moredistrict as a whole. I realize the most blatant businesses, the seasonal haunted houses occupy this often uncharted area, but there's so much more. During the day (the foggier, the better), take a walk throughout this area. Lavish in the weird mixed up toons that you can't psychically hear, but if you listen for the echo, coming from both the jazz and bars that used to occupy this area in the early Kansas City era, and the stockyards and even railroads, still used. Look at that one doorway, or archway, the cracked stained glass or brick designed into the buildings on purpose, still standing and built in the early 1900's. There is also a small, if not minute homeless population in this area, but it's for them as well. It is amazing for photography, and chances are, you'll see photographers out, walking around with their DSLR's photographing old dilapidated structures. Knowing that, something happened here, you can sense it in the air. It's partially empty, but partially alive. It's vague and quiet and still but a sliver of life is in this area. Maybe that is cause it used to be. As for the shops, there are some. Good JUJU is one of the few. But as for the area, as uncharted, it's there. Once you walk around there with a couple of friends, on a foggy Saturday afternoon, you'll get it, and know, this is what Kansas City used to be about.

This is said to be the most photographed doorway in Kansas City, and it's not surprise. Really,…read moreit's one of the most beautiful doorways I have seen anywhere. This house was designed by Kansas City's great Louis Curtiss. He was sort of the Frank Lloyd Wright of Kansas City, only with more Art Nouveau influences. Kansas City is full of beautiful stone houses with art glass doorways, but this one is the most grand. Today this old house serves as the admissions office for the Kansas City Art Institute. With a building this pretty, they would have me sold. According to KCAI's website: "The building was the home of mining magnate R. E. Bruner, who embedded mineral samples in the interior stone walls of his first-floor library, inspiring the name Mineral Hall. Dating to 1903-04, the structure is an amalgam of Art Nouveau, Prairie Style, Second Empire and Neoclassic architectural elements." Go ahead and take a pic, you know you want to. Come on, everyone's doing it!!

Mineral Hall houses the offices for the department of Continuing Education and Professional Studies…read morefor the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI). The building is formerly a house. The beautiful mosaic doorway at the front of the building is frequently photographed by visitors and passersby. The administrators are very friendly and helpful.

This is a great park. So many trees, wide open spaces, a variety of plant life. The trails are…read morereally good. My dog, especially loves it here. There's always a few dogs but not so many. It's never crowded. This is kind of a secret resource here in Lawrence.

This place is beautiful. I learned to love trail running on these trails, running alongside the…read moreriver throughout the four seasons. It's so, so close to downtown Lawrence but also feels 50 miles away. Beautiful scenery, including some bald eagle sightings in the winter if you're lucky. Not a lot I can say other than check it out, and folks who live close enough to get here are lucky.