The days of the cowboys really began after the Civil War,  in the late 18 hundreds, when teams moved cattle hundreds of miles to reach rail lines. The famed Chisholm Trail first moved Texas Longhorns north to a rail spur in Abilene, Kansas — to tap into the growing demand for beef in the eastern United States. While it only operated from 1867 to 1884, it had a powerful impact on the image of the cowboy. So in the early days of the silent films — the cattle drives, and the romance of life on the trail, quickly became favored raw material for the movies. And directors began looking for “locations” that looked like the west.

By the 1920’s Hollywood zeroed in on a remote place east of Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada. It was called the Alabama Hills — weathered granite rocks and canyons that so perfectly captured the spirt of the west, one could think a set designer actually crafted them.

Film crews have been trecking to the “rocks,” and the near by town of Lone Pine ever since. In theaters all across America kids watching those early western films dreamed of the west and the cowboys. The images of the Alabama Hills have left people wondering — where is this place? Now folks come by the thousands to hike through the area and re-discover their youth — those days in the theaters with their cowboy hero’s. The community of Lone Pine embraces this history, and through donations created a special place to tell the story of the movies of the hills.

The Museum of Western Film History is a fascinating place to visit. And each October, a film festival is organized — and folks rediscover the “rocks.”  All sorts of events are part of the festival including the very popular Sunday morning Cowboy Church.

What really makes this special is the location: on the famed Archer Ranch. Back in the day, the founder, Russ Spainhower,  provided horses, extras and other support for the film crews coming into Lone Pine. The ranch is very much the way it was back then — and with the view of Mt. Whitney and the Eastern Sierra Nevada, is quite the place to hold the service.