For as long as I can remember when going through Ash Hollow in Nebraska there were always cowboy boots on top of the fence posts. I don’t remember ever asking why they were there, but they just always were
As I was doing some newspaper searching randomly a week or so ago I ran into this article that was posted in numerous papers across the state.
Vern Kallsen, who is a brother to my Grandmother and a son of my great grandparents Walter Kallsen and Meta Dehning Kallsen apparently just started putting the boots on posts one day most likely in the 1970’s sometime. According to the article he and his wife hadn’t made up a good story as to why they started it although historians have multiple versions of why such a thing may have been done in the old west.
It makes me laugh that in small town Lewellen, Nebraska Vern would go to town and people would throw their old boots into his pickup truck for placement on posts, but that at one point the “hippies” were stealing them to wear, so then it became standard to nail the boots to the fence.
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1987-11-10 -The_Lincoln_Star_Tue__Nov_10__1987_Vern Kallsen Boots on Fence Posts
Cory and Nicole Family History 
My Grandpa was very proud of those boots. We used to nail down the new additions and actually found notes explaining why they were there. I remember one particular note. A man from out of state wanted his there. When he passed away they made sure they were there.
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He was really proud of them – and it was such a fun thing to have in Ash Hollow. What nice stories and memories you have!
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