Cindy Burnside Reflects On 3,000-Mile Bicentennial Pilgrimage
Fifty-years ago, a local 19 year-old Sulphur girl embarked on a journey of a lifetime.
In February, 1976, as a member of the “Oklahoma Prairie Schooner,” Cindy Burnside represented Sulphur as a good will Bicentennial Ambassador when she joined the Bicentennial Wagon Train Pilgrimage.
Riding horseback, Burnside joined the group as they crossed the Red River near Randlett in Cotton County. She told her story along the more than 3,000 mile trek to Valley Forge, PA.
Sulphur’s Cindy Burnside represented this community on a 1976 Bicentennial Wagon Train pilgrimage to Valley Forge, PA, riding a horse on the 3,000-mile trek. The photo above shows the route taken (in red) by her group, the Oklahoma Prairie Schooner.
Sulphur Woman
Burnside was one of a few women on the journey with the wagon train. She carried community scrolls of re-dedication that were microfi lmed and enshrined in the Park at Valley Forge.
The nearly six-month-long journey ended on July 4, 1976 in Valley Forge, PA in time for the nation’s Bicentennial celebration.
During her travels, Burnside collected articles of her journey and along with memorabilia, composed a scrap book, shown in the accompanying photos.
Burnside said during the duration of the ride, she rode 17 different horses.
Burnside will be attending a reunion of her traveling group on July 3, 4 and 5 in Heber Springs, Arkansas.
She said she was very grateful for the opportunity and could not have done it without the support of the Sulphur community, and appreciates everyone for allowing her a great life-changing memory.
Burnside is the a 1975 graduate of Sulphur High School and the daughter of the late Bunny and Gertrude Burnside, a prominent local ranching couple.
Sulphur’s Cindy Burnside, in black hat on a horse in the lower middle left of this photo, helps a wagon driver ford a river during her 3,000-mile pilgrimage to Valley Forge, PA to celebrate the nation’s 1976 Bicentennial.
