**June 2025: Monday Afternoon Visit**…read more When I was researching things to do in and around Hill City, this shop/musuem came up highly recommended. Hours: 9am-6pm Adults $7.50 Admission There's parking right alongside the museum and on my visit the area was not very busy. The museum is very small and I think the gift shop is actually the same size or slightly bigger than the exhibit; however, they had a pretty impressive selection of T-Rex skulls, other dinosaur bones, and misc fossils. Some were real and some were accurate size replicas, but the size of these dinosaurs were pretty intimidating and honestly I'd probably be terrified if these ever came to life. I think I spent maybe an hour or so inside reading all the cards and seeing all the bones. I think if you're looking for things to do you could add this, but it would be a if I had extra time in my South Dakota agenda. Enjoy!

My son is a big dinosaur fan (well, let's be honest, I am too) so of course we had to stop by here…read moreduring our MEA Fall Break vacation in 2021 to South Dakota. They were closed on the first day we tried to come (make sure to check time availability) but we wanted to check this place out so we made another trip from Rapid City on another day. This place isn't very big but they pack a lot of specimens into it. I was impressed by how many T. Rex specimens they had on display and the variety of dinosaurs shown. I had watched the Dinosaur 13 documentary a few months before coming to this place (it is actually how I found out about it) so it was interesting viewing this place and the town from that narrative. My kids were fascinated by the scale of the fossils and had a blast getting up close to the fossils. You have to pay admission (moderate price per person) to see the fossil displays but you can walk around the gift store for free. The gift shop is stocked with so many dinosaur lover gifts and fossils and was a big hit with the family. It made for a fun afternoon. Tip - Make sure to visit the giant open pit mine in the next town over, we made a day of visiting both.

We were staying at the little hotel right next door (which is amazing, by the way), but it was an…read moreeasy walk from that parking lot to this one, and so we decided to go here, even though it was not on my itinerary originally. If you don't know me, which I'm almost positive you don't, swaying from my itinerary is not something that I usually do or something that I take lightly...so it kind of has to be awesome for me to do that. I came because a few of the reviews said that this place was even better than they had expected, and I am very happy to report that this is true. This entire place looks and feels like a labor of love. We didn't get to watch the entire movie in the theater, but whatever we did see, shows how much of an effort it was to go through and make this building and exhibition. This is the kind of place that makes you feel like you are a homeschooler, which I love. I loved how educational it was, and how much we learned during the trip here. The QR codes are awesome to go at your own pace and learn at each different station. There were people there that were willing to answer any questions and others that were digging up at the site and it felt like a very interactive experience. Because I had not already planned for this in advance, we were only able to give the site around an hour and a half, but I think to fully enjoy it, you would need to have around 3 hours worth of time available to come here. I'm grateful that we were even able to go for as long as we did. It was well worth the trip. The gift shop was also great. And we got binoculars and cute little magnets to take with us.

Well done! Very informative displays and easy to navigate. QR codes at each site play a narrative…read moreof what you are looking at during the self guided tour. Takes about 1-2 hours to see everything. Gift shop is okay and there is a snack shack out front selling hotdogs/hamburgers/ chicken strips and nachos. I would highly recommend stopping by The Mammoth Site if you are in the area.

What a hidden gem! This museum is so worth a stop! The variety and quantity of items in their…read morewell done exhibits was amazing! Cynthia (volunteer) greeted us and did a wonderful job giving us an overview of this museum. This was Hot Springs K-12 school and each "classroom" has been transformed into collections of different areas of life here. There's something for everyone and even a place for children to dress up in period clothing. They love to answer any questions you may have. You will not regret taking time to explore this fabulous museum.

This is a fabulous museum filled with history and artifacts. The old school is gorgeous. It is four…read morefloors and huge! We spent a couple of hours walking around, reading, and reminiscing. Everyone there was having a good time from young to old.

What a great experience . Many planes from WWII to modern …read more Price - FREE ADMISSION My family of five enjoyed it a great deal. Just missed the simulator ( ends at 2:00 most days ) Outdoor and indoor displays with a small gift shop .

Incredible collection of USA historical military aviation including Cold War, space and nuclear…read moremissiles.

Most interesting fact was the brothels were closed in 1980! Crazy. Got some history about deadwood…read moretoo.

This tour was worth the price paid; about $15. You have to climb about 20 steps to start this tour…read moreso be prepared. Our guide was great and gave very descriptive events of the times and the working ways of the ladies of the night! I liked learning how the industry started in Deadwood and the many other contributions the ladies provided to the community as a whole. I highly recommend visiting.

I was driving east from Mount Rushmore when I saw the sign for this and did a complete u-turn to…read morestop in because duh, I wanted to be a paleontologist until I was 15 in careers class and learned how much they only make unless they make discoveries. But I still speak fluent fossils and dinosaurs sooooo I had to see everything. There's a cool mirror maze and mini golf that are included in the tickets, and they have one of the coolest gift shops I've ever seen. 3-D Dino post cards? Yeah; those happened. Be sure to stop in and check them out, I had a blast walking around and seeing the Dino's.

Traveled to Rapid City for a family vacation in part because of a little guy that's been dying to…read moresee dinosaurs only to arrive and find it CLOSED! The website, ads, sign AND a note on the door all stated the park opened at 9 am and at 10:30 am, it was locked and closed. Broke the heart of our little guy who has been waiting to see dinosaurs. Luckily a lot of options in the area to find other family fun but disappointed is saying it lightly. Although the run down looks of the parking lot and outside of the building, complete with broken down cars in the parking lot, makes me think maybe we dodged a waste of money. However, not abiding by posted hours is pretty $hi++y and would 0% recommend.

Wonderful museum housing many artifacts of the Deadwood area. Started by a wealthy businessman…read moreAdams. Recommended $5 donation upon entry. The level building, elevator not working for those that struggle with stairs. Short movie discussing the fire in Deadwood. Spent about an hour checking out the tons of historical items. A must see.

Amazing deadwood gold rush museum of 1876…read more View: 1. the first gold nugget found by Potato Creek Johnny - a showman by trade. 2. the first locomotive utilized for gold extraction. 3. View / Enjoy the history of Deadwood, SD.

We had a fun couple of hours going through the old buildings and looking at the old time…read morememorabilia. There is so much to read and learn about the Old West. Staff was very nice and helpful. We definitely would bring others here. It was a lot of fun. Excellent photo opportunities.

So much fun, only a couple of other people here so we could walk around feeling like we owned the…read moretown, get great photos and read all the interesting snippets of historic information scattered among the thousands of artifacts. The owner is dressed up as Poker Alice, and looks like her. There is a town building for everything, over 50 in total. The town is designed around history, humor and old fashioned horse sense. The doors of the buildings are open so people can experience the feeling of pioneer living. This really is an amazing acquisition of artifacts, junk and dust down to meticulous detail. It's wonderful and worth every penny to get in. If you are expecting a fancy museum all pristine and clean then you and your granola need to stay at home. Pioneer living was a grim dirty business.