Gray Horse

A small, traditional Osage Indian village about four miles south-east of Fairfax, set in a wooded valley well off the highway. Most of the year it is quiet — just a few houses, a dance arbour and the village cemetery — but for one weekend each June it hosts the Inlonshka dances, a ceremonial drum dance held in turn by each of the three Osage villages over a four-week period.

Visitors are welcome to the public part of the dances if respectful and properly dressed (skirts for women, long trousers and a shirt for men, no photography), but the rest of the year there is little to do beyond drive through and read the historical markers. Combine with a visit to the Osage Nation Museum in Pawhuska for context.

things to do sight
A story
Gray Horse is one of three traditional Osage villages — alongside Pawhuska and Hominy — where the **Inlonshka** (Drum) dances are held in turn each June. Founded in the late 19th century when the Osage were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma, the village remains a private ceremonial site rather than a tourist destination, but it is the keeper of one of the oldest continuously practised Native American ceremonies in North America.