Somewhere out in the wide open corner of northwestern Oklahoma, a field full of steel and wooden wheels spins all day long, and almost nobody driving by expects it. I pulled over mostly out of curiosity, figuring I would stretch my legs for five minutes and get back on the road.
Forty minutes later I was still walking the gravel paths, listening to dozens of old windmills creak and hum together like some strange prairie orchestra. What looked like a roadside oddity turned out to be one of the most quietly fascinating stops I have made in this state.
A Field Of Turning Wheels On South Main Street
At the south edge of Shattuck, Oklahoma, where Highways 283 and 15 cross in the far northwest corner of the state, a green field sprouts windmills instead of crops. The Shattuck Windmill Museum and Park sits right along South Main Street, and it practically leaps out at you as you drive past.
Depending on which source you trust, the collection runs somewhere between 37 and 63 individual windmills. Visitors counting on foot usually land in the 30 to 60 range, which tells you how easy it is to lose track while wandering…