Eli, Nebraska - Petrified Wood Tombstones

Here's an update and photo of the Eli Nebraska petrified wood grave markers. If you're going to drive to see them, make sure your vehicle has high ground clearance. The last 1/2 mile is a deep track in weeds. I fear that some vandals have removed some of the wood. As interesting as the wood is the "glass chip and concrete markers."

By the way, the "field of windmills" in Eli, NE no longer exists. [Bob Arens, 10/29/2000]

Eli is west of Valentine, a mile north of Highway 20 in the northern Nebraska Sandhills. Eli has about a dozen houses, a church, and a general store, plus a windmill graveyard on the edge of the hamlet. Inquire at the store for directions to the Conley Flats Cemetery, south and east of Eli some 8 miles. The cemetery, located on a picturesque table overlooking the Niobrara River valley, has quite a few grave markers formed of petrified wood, particularly the Bigelow family plot. Be forewarned that the directions will most likely be in terms of "autogates"--the pipe rumbles that cattle ranchers put across driveways to keep cattle in: so many autogates south and so many autogates east. [Steve Hahn, 04/06/1998]