WILL ROGERS, Oologah, Okla.
On 400 acres next to Lake Oologah, Dog Iron Ranch includes the two-story white house where entertainer and humorist Will Rogers was born in 1879. His parents were part Cherokee. It was at Dog Iron, working with his father's Texas longhorn cattle, that Rogers learned to be a cowboy. If your timing is lucky, you might see the foreman of this still-working ranch performing some of the same fancy rope tricks Rogers did in his Wild West shows. Twelve miles south is the Will Rogers Memorial Museum. One mile north of Oologah, two miles east of Hwy. 169, 918/341-0719, willrogers.com, donations welcome.