Frontier history is woven into the fabric of Sheridan’s identity. Reminders of a hardscrabble, bygone era are found etched into the wall of historic buildings, whispered about along century-old mountain trails, and recounted at interpretive sites from the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument to Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site. Sheridan County has played host, sometimes unwillingly, often unwittingly, to cadres of nefarious and notorious outlaws like Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Big Nose George, and even the outlaw Jesse James.

Icons, too, have staked claims at the base of the Bighorn Mountains, with the most celebrated of all being none other than William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody. Yet it is a little-known fact that Sheridan has also hosted some of history’s most refined, dignified, and celebrated individuals, including none other than Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Literary titan Ernest Hemingway spent summers in Sheridan County, writing at the historic Sheridan Inn and Spear-O-Wigwam, and fishing in cool mountain streams. Will Frackelton, the Sagebrush Dentist, plied his trade in town, all while moonlighting as a notorious bareknuckle boxer.

We are telling tall tales of a dozen of Sheridan County’s most celebrated, nefarious, or notorious visitors, guests, and gadabouts.

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