Attractions

With an international following, Brule is the country’s number one Native American music and dance troupe. The sound is thoroughly contemporary — a vibrant reminder that native cultures are alive and evolving, not relics of the past. Brule’s summer home is the Black Hills. The group performs at the outdoor … Read More

Black Hills Playhouse is a professional summer theater like no other in America. It’s set deep in the pine forest of Custer State Park (but performances are indoors, it’s important to stress, not out in the pines). You know you’re a true Black Hills theater-goer if you actually enjoy negotiating … Read More

How many noisy, steam-belching industries can you think of that are universally loved?  The Black Hills has one:  the 1880 Train, a genuine steam locomotive that hauls passengers between Hill City and Keystone and back several times daily.  The rails pass through Black Hills granite country, offering great views of … Read More

Imagine getting hold of a gold claim just three miles from the fabulously rich Homestake shafts. You work incredibly hard carving out a good size mine in the days before mechanized drills. You know your work will pay off big in this region flush with gold. Or…maybe not. That’s what … Read More

Remember — the Black Hills extend into Wyoming. Northeast Wyoming’s longest running rodeo is held annually the second weekend of June, in a town where streets are named after residents’ grandfathers, horses are parked outside the bar, and traffic lights don’t exist. No stadium seating or security checkpoints at this … Read More

Mount Rushmore, it’s fair to say, overshadowed the earlier career its sculptor, Gutzon Borglum. He ranked among the nation’s most distinguished artists the first half of the 20th century. Today his work is found across America in galleries, public parks, churches, the U.S. Capitol building, and even in a National … Read More

Okay, let’s be honest.  You’re twelve or younger, and you’ve been stuck all day in a car moving across South Dakota’s vast expanses.  Even the amazing games on your tablet have lost their power to excite.  Upon reaching Mount Rushmore, the four stationary granite heads may not pull you from … Read More

Here’s that “big” theme again. The world’s largest collection of reptiles — snakes, alligators, crocodiles, giant Aldabra tortoises — is found at Retile Gardens, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Reptile Gardens is located just outside Rapid City on highway 16, the main route to Mount Rushmore. Of … Read More

Come because you love vintage architecture.  Or wood carvings.  Or for religious reasons or because you want to celebrate your Norwegian roots.  Whatever your reason, come and marvel at the Stavkirke, an exact, full-size replica of Norway’s 850 year-old Borgund Church.  The majestic yet intimate structure, also known as the … Read More

World’s biggest mountain sculptures, world’s biggest motorcycle rally, western hemisphere’s biggest gold mine, two of the planet’s biggest caves, and probably the number one biggest cave once we determine where Jewel and Wind caves intersect. If you’ve missed it, the operative word here is “biggest,” a Black Hills obsession, whether … Read More

When Wild Bill Hickok got shot in Deadwood in 1876, it wasn’t a classic Old West showdown. It was plain, unadorned, John Wilkes Booth-style, bullet-to-the-back-of-the-head assassination. It’s a safe bet that no community on earth has embraced and celebrated assassination quite like Deadwood. You can’t get out of the place … Read More