Experience frontier saloons, gambling halls, and bordellos of the Old West

Sin in the Sagebrush is our newest exhibit, examining the lives of those who sought opportunity, fortune and community on the Western frontier.

 

You can step up to an 1880s roulette table, game of faro, chuck-a-luck or poker, and take in the cheating devices and refined attire of a professional gambler, as well as the bowie knife and derringer he might use when challenged.

 

The exhibit also features live, authentic portrayals of those who worked at these establishments, including the “sporting men” running the games (they’ll invite you to play – and even reveal how to cheat). Ask the

saloonkeeper, and “working women” of the night how they fell into their professions, and discover the human stories behind the stereotypes.

 

Become immersed in the atmosphere of the re-created Stockman Saloon, with its oak and mahogany bar, polished nickel cash register and cut-glass bar bottles. Illustrations of prize fighters, racehorses, the local militia, ladies, and a gilt-framed oil of a nude adorn the walls. Piano tunes, gleaming kerosene lamps, and the aroma of whiskey and cigars evoke the exuberant good times and comforts which Western saloons offered to cold, weary patrons.

 

Curator of Western History Bob Boyd says, “You can imagine how the nameless men of the frontier found refuge from toil, loneliness, boredom and unfulfilled ambitions, and how they fulfilled their needs and desires. It is a humanities theme as much as an historical account.”

 

Come discover Sin in the Sagebrush, the way the west had fun.

 

Presented by Schwabe Williamson and Wyatt, and sponsored by BendTel, Chubb, Deschutes Brewery, Horizon Broadcasting and Pepsi of Bend, with additional support from Oregon Heritage Commission, Oregon Community Foundation, Oregon Cultural Trust, The Bend Foundation, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Pacific Power Foundation and Deschutes Cultural Coalition.