The word “frontier” may bring to mind a vast rolling western horizon, perhaps a stuffy horse drawn carriage, maybe even a gold mine with its seductive promises drawing men from their homes into the wild unknown. But he frontier is more than a place that exists in history books or at the O.K. Corral. We navigate frontiers daily. These are the frontiers of technology, philosophy, politics, and the human mind itself. Where all these frontiers converge is a beautiful moment in time marked by intellectually hungry people, towering pine trees, and an ice cold glass of your favorite brew. It’s a real place and it’s called The Wagon Box.
The Wagon Box, “the West’s last resort”, sits in a picturesque valley of the Rocky Mountains at Story, Wyoming. Surrounded by scenery that would make Thoreau stay for life, the resort features a historic bar/restaurant, 20 acres of campground, horse corrals, saunas, cabins, cottages, rivers, wildlife and everything else that could constitute a dreamer’s dream.
I visited The Wagon Box last weekend for their annual Doomer Optimism weekend retreat & conference. A few of my friends were attending and I packed my bags and headed out to Wyoming on a Thursday morning to see what the talk was all about. I flew from Nashville to Denver where I made a few friends who were headed to the event as well. We flew from Denver to Sheridan, a small regional two-gate airport. Sheridan is a charming Wyoming town with a beautiful courthouse and a big open sky. My new friends and I stopped at the Cowboy Cafe for some bison meatloaf and a couple of Coors Banquet ponies before taking the twenty-minute drive to Story, Wyoming where The Wagon Box is located.
While in 2025 Story may no longer be an outpost for the Manifest Destiny or mountain men venturing into the vast wilderness, the spirit of the Frontier has been kept well alive. It is not only the rustic bar and lodge, wool vests, late night fiddle playing, campfires, and Wyoming night sky that bring the frontier to mind. It is the people attending the conference themselves that bring that same spirit, through the intellect, to the hallowed pines of this western oasis. There were around 120 in attendance, including many families which really gave the experience a wholesome feeling. There were authors, entrepreneurs, farmers, political leaders, publishers, teachers, and many more interesting people to talk with.
The Wagon Box offers a variety of overnight accommodations. From fully furnished cottages, lodge rooms, teepees, and buses. I opted for a campsite and pitched my single-person tent for the weekend right on the bank of a babbling brook. The sound of that water put me to sleep like a baby every night. My favorite feature of the property is the library. Stocked with religious, philosophical, historical, and poetic literature. It is sure to carry the mind any which direction one may want to take it. It also helps that it was a mere 10 ft from the bar. Who knew that Ecclesiastes and a brown ale went so well together.
Over the weekend people gave talks on politics, technology, agriculture, philosophy, government, and more. We drank beer, played music into the night, hosted debates, discussed literature, and The Wagon Box became the genesis of unique and productive ideas, the likes of which happen in few other places. It is important for us to be with people like this, who are thinking beyond the realm of normalcy, who think, even perhaps a bit wildly, if we ever hope to break out of the cages that modernity has placed us in.
We may spend time on social media thinking we are venturing outside of the box. Like X, where Bronze Age Pervert and Neo-Nietzschean poets ignite a fire in our frontal lobe. But let us remember that everything we see on there is given to us by an algorithm and is designed in some way to influence our behavior. It is only the illusion of thinking freely.
Until we find in-person gatherings that cultivate adventurous thought, like The Wagon Box, where we truly get to experience thinking on the frontier of what we know, we are still living in that illusion. With the encroaching influence of digital space over the minds of humanity, those who are keen to preserving an inkling of their soul will flock to institutions like this for a breath of fresh air and real human fellowship.
There are brilliant people everywhere who are eager to share what they know, what they are passionate about, and what they believe with anyone who will earnestly listen. Dozens of such people were in attendance at The Wagon Box, and everyone was made the better for the types of conversations had and ideas exchanged throughout the weekend.
I came back to Nashville with new friendships, new ideas, and new horizons on which to place my aims. I met three people who’ve started schools, relevant to our goals here at Meriwether, and countless others who’ve achieved incredible things and are endeavoring to impact culture in a positive way.
I highly encourage you to visit The Wagon Box and to attend the Doomer Optimism Campout. I will see you there. Learn more about The Wagon Box at https://www.thewagonbox.com/