In and Around Paola

• Tour the Miami County Courthouse, listed in the National Registry of Historic places, designed by George Washburn, and built in 1898 (by appointment).
• Tour the Ursuline Convent, gardens, grotto, and cemetery, established in 1895.
• The area’s Indian heritage is commemorated with a stone and bronze monument of the Wea Mission site (south of Miami County Medical Center).
• Shop for specialty items, antiques, and collectibles in Paola’s historic district.
• See Mitchler Springs, the site of the Osage Indian River Company and Baptiste Peoria’s Trading Post (North Pearl Street).
• Take a horse drawn carriage or trolley ride and drive by the many Victorian homes in Paola (by appointment).
• View an amazing collection of antique cars and horse drawn vehicles at the Hitchin’ Post Museum.
• Visit the Miami County Historical Museum (Swan River Museum), home of the Hunt-Russell Genealogical Library and the Miami County Historical Society.
• Lake Miola offers camping, boating, water skiing, swimming, fishing, picnics and volleyball areas in a 725 acre park.
• The 5,480 acre Hillsdale Lake, 8 miles north of Paola, is a favorite with fisherman and hunters.
• Visit John Brown Memorial Park and the Adair Cabin where John Brown and runaway slaves sought refuge in nearby Osawatomie.
• The Paola Cemetery is the site of gravestones of early Indians and descendants of Baptiste Peoria (5 blocks west of the Miami County Courthouse).
• On a summer’s evening, see a movie at the Mid-Way Drive-In Theater, one of only a dozen left in the State of Kansas. Open seasonally “midway’ between Paola and Osawatomie.

 

Paola Free Library	View of the Town Square in downtown Paola, Kansas
Miami County Courthouse	Overview of Lake Miola