Vance AFB, OK Image 1
    Vance AFB, OK Image 2

    Vance AFB, OK Museums

    Enid has a lot of museums for a city its size, including a number of nonprofits. The Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center, focuses on history since American settlement began here in 1893. The Railroad Museum of Oklahoma has a large collection of railroad items and several cars and engines, and occasionally sponsors caboose rail excursions - Enid was a rail hub for much of the 20th Century, and the museum is in the former Santa Fe Railroad Depot.

    The Enid Downtown Historical District is a collection of buildings and places of some historical importance, including the Broadway Tower of Enid, the local high rise. This is also the area of Enid's Knox Building, home of the Enid Symphony Orchestra and other local events.

    The Midgley Museum is an unusual collection of curiosities: the house is constructed of rock samples collected from around the Great Plains, includes some household objects and clothes from the early 20th Century, a rock collection including a 7,000 pound petrified stump, and a fluorescent rock closet, and a trophy room of many stuffed and mounted animals. Leonardo's Discovery Warehouse and Adventure Quest play area is the local science, art, and hands-on activity museum for children. Simpson's Old Time Museum is a collection of Old West items and sets, partly used for a local movie production company, but also a collection of saddles, wagons, tack, furniture, and various other Old West items.

    The Sod House Museum is a showcase of an original sod house - there are few left anywhere, and only this one left in Oklahoma.

    Oklahoma was once the Indian Territory, and dozens of Native American tribes are located in the state. Native American service personnel or just those interested can probably find local tribe organizations.

    Old Western Army Forts: Oklahoma had a fairly large number of Army forts in the 1800s, and some are still standing, or partially standing. One, Fort Sill, is still an Army base. Fort Reno, Fort Gibson, Fort Supply, Fort Townsend, and Fort Washita are in various hands, but generally have tours, self-guided tours, or markers. Some of these forts are a few hours away from base.

    The US Navy is represented in Oklahoma by the USS Batfish, a WWII submarine that sank over ten thousand tons of enemy shipping in the Pacific. The Batfish is in Muskogee, about two hours east of Vance AFB.

    The JM Davis Arms & History Museum is a private collection of firearms, militaria, and assorted memorabilia turned museum. It claims to be the largest collection of firearms in the world, and is probably worth the trip to Claremore, about two and a half hours east of Vance, on the other side of Tulsa.