Mari Sandoz Gravesite

Amid Nebraska’s golden Sandhills, far from any town, you’ll find the unassuming grave of one of the West’s most influential authors. Mari Sandoz was a teacher, historian, and prolific author who rose to prominence in the 1930s. Her books ranged from the autobiographical masterpiece Old Jules, a stark and unapologetic look at her own childhood on the plains, to thoroughly researched biographies like Crazy Horse, a portrayal of the Indigenous leader who defended his people against General Custer. 

Both Sandoz’s novels and her nonfiction works featured Native American characters, cowboys, ranchers, and other figures of Western lore. But for her, writing about the West wasn’t about romanticized adventure; it was about faithfully capturing the people and place she was writing about. Meticulous research and unbiased reporting quickly became her calling cards. In fact, she’s widely credited with bringing a deeply nuanced and human approach to her portrayal of Native American subjects—something that was sorely lacking during the 20th century when racism and anti-Indigenous rhetoric abounded.

When Sandoz passed away in 1966, one of her final wishes was to be buried without fanfare on her family homestead in the Sandhills. She was interred in an unmarked grave on a hill within the property, but the site’s anonymity wasn’t enough to keep wellwishers away. Several years after her death, a headstone and bench were added, along with a mailbox containing a guestbook. Near the parking, an informational sign was erected to help direct those who wished to pay their respects. “Mari Sandoz was internationally known as a chronicler of the West and as an expert on Indian history,” the sign reads. “Her own aim was to understand all of life by understanding this one part of it: how man shaped the Plains country, and how it shaped him.”