News – Sheridan Media
On August 20, Sharie Shada, Site Superintendent at Trail End, led the popular ‘White Gloves Tour’ an after-hours tour of the Kendrick Mansion. This tour gives guests the opportunity to step behind the plexiglass barriers and into spaces not normally open to the public.
Wearing white gloves to protect the exhibits, guests could learn about some of the Trail End’s artifacts that are currently not available for public viewing.
Shada explained about the tours,
One guest said he had heard rumors about secret passageways in the Mansion, but Shada said they have never found any “I’ve been looking for about 20 years,” Shada said. There are several areas of hidden storage that guests were encouraged to look at. Shada said she had never seen a ghost in the Mansion either.
Shada started the tour with a brief history of John B. Kendrick and the Kendrick Mansion, and the fact that everything in the house was state of the art for the time frame. The 13,748 square foot mansion was built in 1913.
She then led the tour to the third floor, where the ballroom is located. Guests were also encouraged look into the areas behind the walls, which was used for storage during the days the family lived in the mansion.
Attendees could also climb up to the musician’s loft, which gave them a birds-eye view of the ballroom.
From the ballroom the tour went down to the second floor, where the family bedrooms were located. Guest were encouraged to walk out on the two balconies that were accessible from the bedrooms.
On the first floor is the dining room, kitchen and butler’s pantry, drawing room and the library.
The Kendrick family enjoyed music, and in the library is an old record player which played large, metal disks and was one of the first ‘music boxes’ invented. She talked about why the disks were so large.
There are several other record players, as well as pianos and organs in the house.
In the basement of the mansion is a diorama of the OW Ranch, known as the “home ranch” where John Kendrick brought his bride in 1891. There they started their married life and raised their two children. There were several artifacts that few guests get to see that were found at the OW Ranch and brought to the Trail End Museum.
The white gloves tours are sold out for this year, but watch for them next summer.
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Last modified: August 23, 2025