Tragic Sisters.

Lost in the Sandhills: Tragic Sisters

Tillie and Retta Haumann took a walk to visit their sister on May 10, 1891, and decided to pick Spring wildflowers on the way home. They got lost on the trackless prairie. Four days later Retta was found 25 miles away, barely alive. Three days after that, Tillie was found, dead, curled up under a rose bush. It was estimated that she had walked 75 miles.

In 2016, the 125th anniversary of the tragedy, a life-size bronze statue of Tillie and Retta was unveiled in Thedford, the nearest town to the Haumann homestead (The Haumanns still live in the county). Titled "Journey of Angels," it was sculpted by Linda Egle, a local rancher.

Both figures of the girls hold the flowers that doomed them.

Lost in the Sandhills: Tragic Sisters

Address:: 506 Walnut St., Thedford, NE
Directions:: Downtown. From ND-2 turn south at the Cowpoke Lounge onto Walnut St. Drive one block. You'll see the sign and statue on the left, just before Walnut intersects Main St.

Nearby Offbeat Places

Bridge Held Together By One Pin, Valentine, NE - 59 mi.

Swimming Pool Shaped Like Nebraska, North Platte, NE - 61 mi.

Muffler Man - Indian, North Platte, NE - 60 mi.

In the region:

Restored 1920s Conoco Gas Station, Ainsworth, NE - 54 mi.

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