North America > United States > Nebraska > Crawford
Crawford is a small town in the far northwestern corner of Nebraska, where the plains begin to rise toward the Pine Ridge and the Black Hills. It has barely a thousand people, a few blocks of old main street, and a position that is far more interesting than its size suggests.
The town grew beside Fort Robinson, the old cavalry post three miles west. Today Fort Robinson State Park is the main reason to come: part military history site, part fossil and prairie landscape, part family outdoor base. Crawford itself works as the small-town service stop beside it, with a local museum and a quiet downtown.
This is open-country travel. You need a car, and distances are long, but Crawford makes a useful base for Fort Robinson, Toadstool Geologic Park, Agate Fossil Beds, and the lonely roads of the Nebraska Panhandle.