Author: Christine Whitehead

So this is weird but interesting. Read on! (Shortened slightly as quite long and photos of Hemingway added by me. )

Thiruvananthapuram

A walk through India’s first psychology-themed park

Psychopark in Thiruvananthapuram turns the science of the mind into an immersive, interactive experience.
Dopamine house at Psychopark
Dopamine house at Psychopark

Ever seen Virginia Woolf, Vincent van Gogh, Ernest Hemingway, Kevin Carter, and Rajalekshmi in one room, all passionately discussing life, despair, and how suicide is never the answer? Wondering how different it might have been if they had held on for just one more moment?Image result for newpaper headline of Hemingway's death

Step out, and the doors open to a house full of walls glimmering with 25,000 tiny sculptures representing the chemical that keeps us moving and feeling — the dopamine house. Charts and displays explain what happens when there is too much or too little of it, how imbalance can twist the way people think or act.

And that is just one corner of this two-acre world, the Psychopark. Half an hour’s drive from the city, along a winding road that weaves through the hills and calm outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram, stands this unique park in Vellanad — India’s first psychology-themed park.

“It’s not just India’s first, this is the world’s first psychology-themed park. It is also an edutainment park,” says C Lekha, CEO of the establishment.

“Mirror For Your Mind, that’s our tagline. Everything here is curated with great care, designed for anyone who wants to understand the human mind and behaviour through engaging, relatable experiences,” she adds.

Neuropsychology, he explains, is at the heart of the park’s vision. It’s important because when people begin to understand how the brain functions, they can free themselves from superstition. “After all, the notions of god and evil both arise within the brain, and recognising that is the first step toward a more rational, enlightened, developed society,” says Madhujan, who is also a recipient of the 2018 National Award for Outstanding Achievement for his work in preventing alcoholism and substance abuse.

The exhibits here unfold like chapters in the human mind. It begins with early practices from the extraction of the stone of madness — a sculptural interpretation of the ancient trephination process of drilling or scraping a hole in the skull — to depictions of traditional Indian approaches to mental illness.

Other sections turn psychology into an interactive experience. Instruments for colour-deficiency tests, maze learning, and depth perception are displayed alongside spaces dedicated to cognitive behaviour therapy and addiction studies.

Had his routines.

The Brain Museum details the brain’s regions and their functions, while the Psychosocial Museum houses artefacts that trace human evolution. A portrait drama theatre, a library with a curated collection of books, an art gallery, a corner dedicated to Sigmund Freud, a nano-sculpture, and photographs of pioneers who shaped modern psychology are also part of the experience.

“The official inauguration has not been held yet. We hope to do it by January and are waiting to confirm a prominent guest,” says Madhujan.
They also have further ambitious plans for Psychopark, including a brain installation that visitors can walk through. A section dismantling pseudo-psychology is also in the plans.

“We are also working towards promoting psycho-tourism,” Madhujan says. “This concept can promote mental and emotional awareness, which is more important today. It can grow even bigger than health tourism. It is an innovative idea, which is perhaps why convincing the state government has been a challenge so far. But hopefully, that will change soon,” he says.

Nitty-gritties

After the tour, visitors can also interact with the director and ask questions about any aspect of the human mind. Entry packages start at I650 for adults, I600 for college students, I500 for high school students, and I450 for school groups. The fee includes a traditional mini-sadhya with payasam, along with tea and snacks. For outstation visitors, overnight stays are available for I1,600, which includes accommodation, four meals,
and a campfire experience.

A little known part of Hemingway History: the Hurricane of 1935 in Key West. Hemingway one of first to pitch in to help the Vets left there and Working under FDR NEW DEAL

‘Who Murdered the Vets?’ – 1935 US Labor Day Hurricane 90 years on

Wreckage and destroyed homes in the Florida Keys after the hurrican. Photo: Public domain
Wreckage and destroyed homes in the Florida Keys after the hurrican. Photo: Public domain

Scott Jones

Smoking cigarettes and having a drink cooling off after a long day’s work in the tropical sun back at camp, veterans building a highway to connect the Florida Keys to the mainland in September 1935 noticed the wind picking up, and heard reports of bad weather on its way. The next morning “not a blade of grass” remained.

The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 was the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, only broken over 50 years later, culminating in a devastating storm surge that swept all before it. Unfortunately, almost 700 workers, World War One veterans, were before it, with only “match-box wooden shacks” for shelter.

Among the first to turn up and aid with rescue and recovery, and to witness the horrific catastrophe, was writer Ernest Hemingway who lived in Key West and owned a fishing boat. He had also served and was wounded in World War One giving him a connection to these vets. Writing that same month in the socialist magazine New Masses, Hemingway hammers out on his typewriter his most impassioned and hard-hitting non-fiction work, “2,800 words of dynamite”, as he later called it.

Under the headline: “Who Murdered The Vets?” he contrasts the “wealthy people… such as President Hoover and President Roosevelt” who “do not come to the Florida Keys in hurricane months” because they know of the danger to their yachts and themselves, with the vets who had no choice and knew no better. Hemingway writes scathingly: “Veterans, especially the bonus-marching variety of veterans are not property. They are only human beings and all they have to lose are their lives.”

It was not until late the next day after the hurricane that any boat could get to Matecumbe Key where the camps were. What they found were hundreds of dead veterans in grotesque states and places. They had nowhere to shelter and nothing to stop them from being washed away. Hemingway said: “You found them everywhere and in the sun all of them were beginning to be too big for their blue jeans and jackets that they could never fill when they were on the bum and hungry… I would like to make whoever sent them there carry just one out through the mangroves.” Some of the surviving vets compared it to what they had seen during the war.

The veterans were there as part of President Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal program to get the unemployed back to work during the 1930s depression. But they had to campaign just to get that. In 1924 an act awarded bonuses to World War One veterans but not for 20 years, an insult at the time but a bearable one, given most had jobs. But by the early 1930s, many were out of work following the Wall Street Crash.

A so-called ‘Bonus Army’ numbering 43,000 marched on Washington DC in 1932 demanding the bonus now, but was brutally crushed by the US Army led by General Douglas MacArthur on the order of President Hoover. There was pressure on new president Roosevelt to act, he did so by sending the vets to work on projects like the Florida highway, seeing it as an opportunity to get them out of the way.

To give the scale of the tragedy, Hemingway says in Camp Five only eight out of 187 survived. Everyone knew when hurricane season was and there had been storm warnings and hurricane flags all over the Keys, meaning there was time to evacuate the vets. The subsequent investigation was a whitewash, completed just days afterwards and failing to call any witnesses.

A lack of concern for the victims of extreme climate events still remains and millions more every year are potential victims due to climate change. 90 years on we should remember who murdered the vets and fight to change the system that allowed it to happen.

This looks interesting. I am an hour away and I just saw this. Missed it but worthy of thought!

Community Theatre at Woodbury (CT)

The final performance of this special staged reading will be the Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.

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https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/119576/20251019/121444/styles/patch_image/public/mail___19121429426.pngBettie Snyder (B.L. Walker) in the role of “Tillie,” a one-woman monologue play she wrote and performed.

 

Community Theatre at Woodbury continues its 12 season with a staged reading of “Hemingway’s Promise,” written by B.L. Walker for one weekend only. The reading is performed by a talented cast directed by Sarah Roberts. The final performance will be the Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.

This production is sponsored in part by the Woodbury Junior Women’s Club.

Robards writes that she first met the playwright, Bettie Snyder (a.k.a B. L Walker,) in 2008 when she filled in for an actor in a play reading at the Sharon Library. The play, called “Demons” at the time, was an early version of “Hemingway’s Promise.” This play reading was Robard’s introduction to what she deems a “deep and thought-provoking play.

“‘Hemingway’s Promise’ is biographical in nature and centered on the imagined last hours of Hemingway’s life and his subsequent suicide,” the director continues. “It deals with themes of family dysfunction, marital infidelities, transgender issues, friendships both close and complicated, and the political and historical upheavals of the time, which influenced much of Hemingway’s life and writing.”

So expect lots of heaviness in this exploration of the final hours of the author’s life, although there are bits of comedy to lighten the mood. As with most biographical plays, I learned so much about the person that it memorializes as it offers insight into their character.

Find out what’s happening in Woodbury-Middleburyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Robards directs this piece in which she has always believed with “efficiency” and a keen eye to the details. I love that the players sit at the side of the stage awaiting their entrances, well lit by operator Dennis Walsh. The final scene of the (offstage) suicide features a variety of important lines delivered on top of each other and is extremely effective.

Will Jeffries (pictured above) makes his CTAW debut in the role of Ernest Hemingway and his performance is a master class in how to fully embody an historical (and flawed) figure. Jeffries has a slew of acting and directing credits (Do you remember him as the evil Damon Grenville on “General Hospital?”) and was memorable in “Frost/Nixon.” It is an honor to watch him perform in any role.

Joyce Schroeder makes her CTAW debut in the role of Hemingway’s mother Grace. Schroeder, who recently played Sister Berthe in Newbury Theater Company’s “The Sound of Music,” describes her character as “a piece of work,” and she hit the nail on the head. Grace is a controlling parent, who gave up a promising singing career to have six children.

Missy Cowan does very well with the role of Hadley Richardson Hemingway, called “Hash,” who was the author’s first wife. The couple wed when he was 22 and she was 28, and were married for six years. Cowan notes in her program bio that Hadley was believed to be Ernest’s one true love, was a friend of the chef Julia Child, and that she was the grandmother to Margaux and Muriel Hemingway.

David Gordon makes his CTAW debut in the role of the editor Ezra Pound. Pound attended the University of Pennsylvania, studying Latin, and became an influencer and Fascist. Gordon recently retired from legal practice and is not pursuing his theatrical interests, including playwriting.

Bibiana Andreu returns to CTAW to play the second wife of Hemingway, Pauline Pfeiffer Hemingway. The stylish Pauline held a degree in journalism and wrote for Vogue magazine. The two were introduced by F. Scott Fitzgerald and had two sons together.

In his CTAW debut, Alex Gellweiler takes on the role of the youngest son of the author, Gregory/Gloria, a person questioning their gender. His character went on to become a medical doctor and have eight children. Gellweiler attended the Hartford Conservatory for Musical Theater and acted onstage at The Gary-The Olivia Theater in Bethlehem. He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and has worked in film and television.

Woodbury resident Caitlin Williams has a wonderful stage presence in the role of the third wife of Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn Hemingway. Williams serves as President of the Board of Directors at CTAW.

What a delight it was to see the talented Roger Grace in the role of Gary Cooper. Grace returns to CTAW to take on this role. Recent credits include Peter Quince in Sharon and Albin in “La Cage” at the Arts at Angeloria’s.

The story is told in one scene, Hemingway’s living room in Ketchum, Idaho. It takes place in one day, Sunday, July 2, 1961, between the hours of midnight and dawn.

Kris Geddes served as the producer and stage manager of the performance and spoke to the audience before and after the show. Lighting and sound design was done by Bill Geddes.

Robards, who has been a Woodbury resident since 1986, kept in touch with the playwright through the years and planned to bring it to CTAW in June of 2022. When COVID affected several cast members, the reading had to be postponed. Sadly, B.L. Walker, who was looking forward to attending a performance, passed away shortly thereafter.

The script contains some strong language and explores mature themes, including suicide. It is recommended for adult audience. The script was copyrighted in 2016.

“Hemingway’s Promise” is presented without an intermission. It closes on Oct. 19 at 2 p.m. at Woodbury Old Town Hall, across from the Post Office. The address is 5 Mountain Road in Woodbury. Tickets at ctaw-ct.org Donations for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention are accepted in hopes of halting the so called “Hemingway curse.”

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theater reviews since 2012 as a way to support local venues, and she posts well over 100 reviews each year. She became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle in 2016. Her contributions of theatrical reviews, previews, and audition notices are posted in the Naugatuck Patch as well as the Patch sites closest to the venue. She was a feature writer and theater reviewer for the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper. Follow the reviewer on her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and Connecticut Theatre Previews and on Twitter @nancysjanis417Check out the CCC Facebook page.

Very interesting. I think he makes valid points. What do you think? (Some photos added by me.)

OPINION

There’s Still Time For Men To Reverse A Depressing Trend That’s Rotting Their Brains

OPINION

Hemingway

(Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

MR. RIGHTDAILY CALLER MASCULINITY CONSULTANT

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This post is adapted from Mr. Right’s weekly newsletter, which tackles modern manhood for normal guys in a not-normal world. If you have not already subscribed for free, please consider doing so here. 

There is a reading crisis among men. Instead of losing themselves in novels and works of non-fiction, many men turn to sports betting, social media, video games, and porn as sources of entertainment. It’s depressing to even talk about, let alone witness.

Perhaps the biggest reason men no longer read, save for the fact that the modern world gives us infinite distractions online, is that the publishing industry strictly caters to women. Not only are the authors themselves female, but also the publishing houses, from the assistant editors to top executives. Their publicity departments are also, by and large, run by women.

It’s a perfect storm. Women read the most, while men gamble and play video games. Women run the publishing industry, so all the new books are feminine. Even the children’s books are geared toward girls. Gone are the days of children’s author Eric Carle and his “Very Hungry Caterpillar,” or Shel Silverstein and “The Giving Tree.”  (Subscribe to MR. RIGHT, a free weekly newsletter about modern masculinity)

But I’m here to tell you hope is not lost.

Always a Fisherman

The first step to Making Men Read Again is a baby one: pointing out that there are books published today that appeal to men. If you comb through the New York Times bestseller list or Amazon’s top sellers, you probably won’t find a good book geared toward men. But if you know where to look, there are deep cuts everywhere.

Tyrant Books, whose founder, Giancarlo DiTrapano, died in 2021, has a slate of literature written by men. “Fuccboi” by Sean Thor Conroe. “Preparation for the Next Life” by Atticus Lish. “The Sarah Book” by Scott McClanahan. “Essays and Fictions” by Brad Phillips. “Supremacist” by David Shapiro. All of these books are masculine. Another great writer for men who you won’t see on the splashy bestseller lists is Callan Wink, who writes about rugged characters in the American West. His latest novel is a crime story in Yellowstone.

One of my favorite photos of Hem

And, who says you have to read anything recent? The best books are the oldest ones. And the good news is, many of the oldest ones were written by men. You don’t even have to travel back in time too far. The 20th century alone provided classics galore that appealed to men. The now much-maligned cadre of straight, white, male authors is a good place to start: William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, John Updike, Phillip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, David Foster Wallace.

The second step is to focus on future generations, which means getting kids hooked on reading as soon as possible. Start ‘em young. I, for one, am going to make sure my nephew has access to the great works. He’ll be reading Hemingway and Fitzgerald by the time he’s in middle school.

Even if he’s not fully comprehending the plots, the themes, the subtext, it doesn’t matter. All the better, actually. He can revisit them in the future when he’s more developed as a reader. The key is to spark a love for it.  (Subscribe to MR. RIGHT, a free weekly newsletter about modern masculinity)

It’s also crucial to keep reading fun. I became hooked on reading when I was young. I kept up the habit after all these years because if I ever got bored of a book, I dropped it. I never had an OCD fixation on finishing to the final page. If it was boring, I picked up a new one. If it was too easy, I cracked open a book way beyond my reading level. If that book was too difficult, I dialed it back and found something easier to read, like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”

Hem with the “Long-legged son of a bitch.”

The most important thing was that I never got bored of reading. Boys in school are forced to finish books, even if the works are feminine and woke. But if they are given the complete freedom to explore literature outside of school confines – and are regulated with regard to internet use, video games, and social media – there’s a decent chance they’ll foster a love for reading.

Did you enjoy this post? Follow Mr. Right on X and consider checking out his full weekly newsletter, available here: MrRight.DailyCaller.com

Writers’ Rituals for Writing: Our “Guy” is the second one below. (Some introductory portions left out for length.)

 

 

 

One of the Last who was there: I was away the week this happened so this is late. Patrick (Mouse) was along with AE Hotchner who passed away a few years ago was one of the last to really know Hemingway. It is with great sorrow that I read of his passing. A true gentleman and holder of the legacy. RIP, dear Patrick.

Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacy
The Week US
2 min read
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Patrick Hemingway.

His father’s outsized reputation, Patrick said, “didn’t bother me because I don’t think that I was terribly ambitious.” . | Credit: Paul Marotta / Getty Images

Patrick Hemingway was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway. Though the elder Hemingway was famously troubled and mercurial, their affection was deep and mutual. “I would rather fish with you and shoot with you than anybody that I have ever known since I was a boy,” Ernest wrote in a letter to his son. Patrick completed Ernest’s unfinished novel True at First Lightand published Dear Papa, a collection of 120 letters the two exchanged over a period of 30 years. His father’s outsized reputation, Patrick said, “didn’t bother me because I don’t think that I was terribly ambitious.”

Patrick Miller Hemingway was born in Kansas City, Mo., to Ernest and his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, during a stopover in the family’s many travels. The middle child of three boys, Patrick mostly spent his childhood “in Key West with summers in Wyoming and Idaho while his private school education was punctuated by regular hunting and fishing trips,” said The Times (U.K.). Inspired by his father’s 1935 novel The Green Hills of Africa, Patrick moved to Tanzania in 1951, funding the move by selling the Arkansas plantation he inherited on his mother’s death. He became a safari guide, hunter, and forestry officer for the United Nations, returning to the U.S. in 1975.

Hemingway “managed a long life in a family haunted by suicide and mental illness,” said the Associated Press. Patrick’s brother Gregory, who transitioned and adopted the name Gloria, struggled with alcohol abuse and died in a Miami jail cell in 2001. Ernest famously suffered from depression and alcoholism and shot himself in 1961. “Under proper treatment, he would have had a nice old age

FOR POETS OUT THERE!!!! It would be fun!!

Poetry retreat planned for Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum in November

The Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center (HPMEC) will host a poetry workshop on Saturday, Nov. 8.

By Arkansas State University

Contributed

September 13, 2025 1:00 pm

ContributedArkansas State University

Jonesboro, AR – (Contributed) – Sept. 13, 2025 – The Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center (HPMEC) will host a poetry workshop on Saturday, Nov. 8.

The event will honor novelist Ernest Hemingway, who spent nearly a decade writing and living in Piggott at the site of HPMEC.

“The retreat offers writers the opportunity to work on personal creative writing, share their work, receive feedback, and interact with others interested in writing,” said Shannon Williams, director of HPMC.

The cost for the retreat is $35 for members of HPMC and $40 for nonmembers.

“The retreat is structured to be interactive and a time when friendships are formed, craft is honed, and creativity is enhanced,” Williams added.

The retreat is a one-day event that will start at 10 a.m. Participants will spend the morning writing short poems, using old-fashioned rhyme and rhythm, followed by a provided lunch. From 12:30 until 4 p.m. authors will work on composition of poems and collaborate with other attendees. A complimentary tour of HPMC will follow.

Those interested in attending may reach out to Williams at shwilliams@AState.edu or call 870-598-1637.

 

Looks like fun! If you are in Idaho . . . check it out!

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Hemingway Seminar to explore Paris through ‘A Moveable Feast’

Annual event highlights Ernest Hemingway’s legacy with scholars, exhibits and community discussion

25-08-22-Community Library Party-Roland-10
The Community Library, pictured during a recent anniversary celebration, will host its annual Hemingway Seminar this week.

The Community Library’s annual Ernest Hemingway Seminar will return Thursday through Saturday, inviting readers, writers and scholars to reflect on one of the author’s most beloved works: “A Moveable Feast.”

This year’s seminar, “Never Any Ending to Paris: Journeying through ‘A Moveable Feast,’” will center on Hemingway’s sketches of 1920s Paris, created during a period when he was a young writer honing his craft among artists, musicians and literary figures who would shape modernist culture.

“‘A Moveable Feast’ offers us insight into Hemingway’s early days as an artist and invites reflection on memory and nostalgia in his writing,” said Martha Williams, the library’s director of programs and education. “We’re especially excited to welcome Dr. Seán Hemingway, Ernest’s grandson and the editor of the 2009 restored edition of the text, as our opening keynote speaker. Seán will help us dive into the work, what Ernest intended for his memoir, and why it continues to resonate for readers and writers today.”

Idaho

The seminar will open Thursday, Sept. 4, with a 5 p.m. reception catered by Roots Wine Bar and Bottle Shop, followed by Dr. Hemingway’s keynote at 6 p.m. Over the following two days, sessions will explore the book’s style and tone, the characters who inspired its creation and the broader artistic and cultural atmosphere of Hemingway’s Paris.

Featured speakers include Hilary Justice, the Patrick and Carol T. Hemingway scholar-in-residence at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, and Barbara Groth of the Nomadic School of Wonder, who will lead a presentation on Hemingway’s “art of noticing.”

Clyde Moneyhun, Ph.D., Stacey Guill, Ph.D., and Mac Test, Ph.D., will also return as presenters from Boise State University. Additional speakers include Cathy MacHold, Eileen Martin, Greer Rising and Jennifer Sander.

Francesca Wade, author of the forthcoming “Gertrude Stein: an Afterlife,” will join virtually from the United Kingdom to discuss Stein’s influence and legacy. Talks on Stein, Parisian music and the city’s artistic culture will help place Hemingway’s recollections in a broader context.

The seminar will conclude Saturday, Sept. 6, with a 4:30 p.m. reception catered by Silver Fox Catering.

In-person tickets for the event are $95, and virtual participation is open for $30. Full details and registration links can be found at comlib.org.

Complementing the seminar is a new exhibit, “From Paris to Hemingway’s Idaho: ‘Hunger Was Good Discipline,’” curated by Riley Bradshaw, the library’s 2025 Hemingway in Idaho research fellow. Opening today, Wednesday, Sept. 3, in the Library foyer, the exhibit connects Hemingway’s time in Paris with his later life in Ketchum, featuring objects from his final home. It will remain on display through December. 

Where Hemingway Finished “A Farewell to Arms.” A dear friend, Don, shared this with me and I found it so interesting I wanted to share it with you. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I added some photos of Hemingway out west but not at this particular ranch. Best, Christine

Historic Spear Ranch, Where Hemingway Finished ‘A Farewell To Arms,’ Lists For $29 Million

Wyoming’s historic Spear Ranch is where Ernest Hemingway found the solitude and seclusion he needed to finish “A Farewell to Arms.” The Big Horn property is also near Wyoming’s oldest polo field, and can be had for $29 million.

Renée Jean

June 07, 20256 min read

Wyoming’s historic Spear Ranch is where Ernest Hemingway found the solitude and seclusion he needed to finish “A Farewell to Arms.” It’s also near Wyoming’s oldest polo field, and can be had for $29 million.
Wyoming’s historic Spear Ranch is where Ernest Hemingway found the solitude and seclusion he needed to finish “A Farewell to Arms.” It’s also near Wyoming’s oldest polo field, and can be had for $29 million. (Courtesy Hall and Hall)

Ernest Hemingway did some of his best writing in Big Horn, Wyoming, at the historic Spear Ranch, which he prized for its solitude and seclusion.

He tried the Folly Ranch first, but noisy college-age tourists drove him to the Sheridan Inn. There, his third-floor room in August 1928 proved both unbearably hot and small.

The third floor had once housed the servants, and a 6-by-9-foot room barely accommodated a bed, much less a burly writer like Hemingway.

That soon had Hemingway looking at other ranches for the peace and quiet he needed, among them the Spear Ranch, where he wrote at least some of his famous novel, “A Farewell to Arms.”

That very ranch has just hit the real estate market for $29 million, according to a listing by Hall and Hall.

The Spear Ranch takes its name from its founding family. William Bradford Spear traded a few mules and some cash for a 160-acre homestead in the 1880s.

The two homesteads together are the heart of the 300-plus-acre Spear Ranch. Broken up a few times over the years, the ranch has been put back together again by its latest owners, who were not identified in the real estate listing.

About The Ranch

Hall and Hall’s listing agent did not respond to Cowboy State Daily’s request for an interview. But the listing for the ranch features photos of the Ranch that seem as though they should lie in some kind of fairy tale.

The picturesque Bighorn Mountains are just to the south and west of the ranch, rising to 11,000 feet, while a 1.6-mile section of the Little Goose Creek, an outstanding trout fishery, meanders through the property. There’s a lovely gazebo overlooking that creek at the main house.

Multiple ponds, extensive lawns and an irrigated meadow contribute to an almost park-like feel.

Miles of trails throughout the ranch have been covered with wood chips, and there’s a small gauge target range. Not to worry about drinking water either. There’s access to Sheridan Area Water Supply District, as well as 12 permitted wells for domestic and stock water.

young Hem

Irrigation rights for the ranch are some of the earliest in Wyoming, with history predating the state itself. And the seller is offering 131 shares of Park Reservoir water, which helps assure late-season irrigation and good stream flow.

Not Just About Solitude

Hemingway chose Spear Ranch to write part of his novel, “A Farewell to Arms,” because he needed solitude and seclusion, but the Spear Ranch can also bring excitement. That’s because it’s in the heart of a major polo hub that’s not just prominent in Wyoming, but the polo world at large. 

Top players from around the world annually come to the area to play in tournaments during the summer, and there’s not just one but two prominent polo clubs nearby, the Big Horn Polo Club and the Flying H Polo Club. Together, they offer a wide range of experiences from practice games to serious tournaments.

Polo has a long history in Sheridan County going back to the 1890s, when a pair of Scottish brothers, William and Malcolm Moncreiffe, decided to not only set up a pony breeding operation but offer a polo field. They wanted to introduce the game to their cowhands.

One of their cousins, Oliver Malcolm Wallop, the fifth son in a titled line in Britain, decided he wanted to be a cowboy and came to Wyoming to ranch near his cousins, the Moncreiffes, not long after graduating from Oxford in 1883. Wallop had to return to England after his fourth brother died, but eventually, his son, Oliver Wallop, returned to that Wyoming ranch, which is adjacent to the Spear Ranch.

The house on a Hill: Hemingway’s home. Hem lived here much later in Idaho.

The first recorded polo match in Sheridan County was July 4, 1893. According to historical records, it was played in front of several thousand spectators, with a warmup from a military band before the match started.

The teams featured five mainly British players to a side and were listed as Beckton vs. Sheridan.

Equestrian polo has remained a part of the Sheridan-area culture ever since, and the arena where Don King Days Polo tournament, the biggest of Big Horn Polo Club’s season, is ringed by mountains, making it a gorgeous place to watch this sport. The event often hosts other competitions, like the Wyoming Steer Roping Finals in 2023, where Kassandra Shoemaker made history as the first woman to compete in that particular event. She was also named Rookie of the Year.

Big Horn Polo Club was established in 1898, and lays claim to being the oldest polo club in the West.

That, too, is all part of the one-of-a-kind history and legends, ranging from Hemingway to European royalty, that surround the historic Spear Ranch in Wyoming.

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.

Phew! We Knew it.