I Visited Belle Starr's Grave

Belle Starr, the Outlaw Queen, made her way into the pantheon of legendary wild west bandits by living an exciting life and having a series of outlandish adventures, some of which are actually true.  Yes, like many legends, most of her exploits began, not from a six-shooter's flow of bullets but rather, from the flow of ink of a writer's quill.

But tall tales beget fame and fame begets monuments.  The picture above is a statue of the notorious highwaywoman that can be found at the Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary near Bartlesville. It's impressive but it's not the only place in Oklahoma to remember the infamous rogue.  Her final resting place is near Stigler, close to the Lake Eufaula dam but you need to make a little effort to find it.  So let's take a look.

The first thing to know is that the grave is on private property so when you go, don't be douchey.  That essentially means don't trash the place.  The owners maintain a great trail that leads to the grave.  It starts at the end of their driveway and has signage instructing visitors where to go.  It's also conveniently near a historic marker.

According to the marker, it looks like the Canadian River used to pass through this area and it was home to Belle and her husband.  The outlaw life doesn't necessarily end tidily so only Belle made it back home to be interred.  And to see her final resting place, you need to head down the trail.

There are plenty of signs along the path.  Many of them warn about spiders and snakes and there are lots of "Enter at Your Own Risk" signs.  That may seem a little hostile but it's probably just the owners protecting themselves from liability.  Remember, they don't have to make their private property accessible, they're essentially just doing it to be nice.  And they did a great job on the trail.  It's an easy-to-follow short hike.

And here it is...you can see there's a fairly elaborate headstone and that she's interred above ground.  Like many graves, past visitors have left mementos like dollars, shotgun shells, trinkets, but mostly coins.  I've seen this before at other historic grave sites and I assume it's just good old fashioned "paying tribute."

I didn't stay long and I didn't want to disturb anything.  The dead need their rest.  So I headed back down the trail (only getting lost once) and was back in the car in no time headed off for my next adventure.  One that would surely pale in comparison to the those of the Outlaw Queen...