Fort Laramie, WY

Fort Laramie is a quiet, sun-soaked town in eastern Wyoming, located right where the Laramie and North Platte rivers meet. It is easy to mix up the town with the Fort Laramie National Historic Site, which sits just a couple of miles south across the river. The historic post welcomed nineteenth-century pioneers on their way west, while the residential community we know today grew up along the railroad tracks on the north bank.

ATTRWusel007 / CC BY-SA 3.0

Day-to-day life here moves at a relaxed pace among the surrounding farms and cattle ranches. Neighbors know each other by name, the river offers easy spots for fishing, and a quick drive down Highway 26 connects residents to larger stores, schools, and medical care in nearby Torrington. It gives newcomers the peace of open prairie living alongside some of the most famous frontier history in the West.