The Willa Cather Memorial Prairie lies on the west side of US 281 about 5½ miles south of Red Cloud, just north of the Kansas line. Its roughly 610 acres have never been plowed: mixed-grass prairie of the kind Cather knew. The Nature Conservancy bought it in 1974 with a grant from the Woods Charitable Fund and gave it to the Willa Cather Foundation in 2006. A History Nebraska marker stands at the site, and walking trails are open to the public free of charge.