Barada

Barada, Nebraska

Barada is a village in northeast Richardson County, Nebraska, first settled in the 1850s and formally incorporated in 1927. It's named for Antoine Barada, a mid-19th-century folk hero of French-Omaha descent who ran a trading post within the former Nemaha Half-Breed Reservation. With just 20 residents at the 2020 census, Barada is one of Nebraska's smallest incorporated villages, sustained today by the farmland that surrounds it.

Location & Access

County: Richardson County
Region: Southeast Nebraska
Primary Highways: County roads (nearest numbered highway is US-73 at Falls City)
ZIP Code: 68355
Population: 20 (2020 census)
Designation: Village

Adjacent Counties

Nemaha County (north) · Holt County, Missouri (east, across the Missouri River) · Doniphan County, Kansas (southeast) · Brown County, Kansas (south) · Nemaha County, Kansas (southwest) · Pawnee County (west)

Nearby Towns

Shubert (~6 miles WNW) · Verdon (~9 miles WSW) · Stella (~10 miles W) · Falls City, the county seat (~11 miles SSW) · Salem (~12 miles SW) · Rulo (~14 miles SE) · Dawson (~15 miles SW) · Humboldt (~20 miles W)

Points of Interest

The Mount Zion Brick Church, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, stands northwest of Barada near the intersection of 718 Road and 651 Avenue. Nearby, Barada Hills Trading Company is a family-run farm store selling grass-fed beef, named for the hill country around the village. Barada itself has no standing commercial attractions today — its history is its main draw, tied to trader and folk hero Antoine Barada, who ran a post here on the former Nemaha Half-Breed Reservation in the mid-1800s.

Outdoors & Recreation

Indian Cave State Park, one of Nebraska's largest state parks, straddles the Nemaha–Richardson county line about 8 miles east of Shubert (roughly 13 miles from Barada), offering hiking trails, camping, and bluff-top views of the Missouri River.

Events

No standing annual community event is currently documented for Barada itself — one of Nebraska's smallest incorporated villages. Residents take part in county-wide events centered in Falls City and the surrounding Richardson County communities.

Education & Health

Schools: Barada is split between two school districts — Falls City Public Schools and Humboldt Table Rock Steinauer Public Schools (HTRS). HTRS was formed when the former Southeast Nebraska Consolidated Schools, which previously served Barada, merged into the district on January 1, 2009.

Health: Community Medical Center, Inc., Falls City (~11 miles south) — the primary hospital serving Richardson County.

Highway Access

Barada is not located directly on a numbered state or US highway — it's reached via Richardson County's gravel and paved grid roads. The nearest numbered highway is US-73, which runs north–south through Falls City about 11 miles to the south; Nebraska Highway 8 also terminates at US-73 in Falls City. Drivers heading to Barada typically leave US-73 or NE-8 at Falls City and follow county roads north and east.

With around 20 residents at the 2020 Census, Barada is one of Nebraska's smallest incorporated villages. The NRHP-listed Mount Zion Brick Church stands within the community.