On the way out of Mount Rushmore and heading down towards Keystone, you'll find this historical…read moremarker installed by the State of South Dakota and in memory of the man who carved the start of the famous Mount Rushmore National Monument. And if you frame it right, you can get a picture of the monument with the historical marker, which reads: "His birthplace was Idaho. California first taught him art. Then France, who first gave him fame. England welcomed him. America called him home. His genius for the exquisite as for the colossal gave permanence on canvas, in bronze, in marble, to moods of beauty or passion, to figures of legend and history. Nations, cities, colleges paid him tribute. As a patriot he stripped corruption bare. As a statesman he toiled for equality in the rights of man. At last he carved a mountain for a monument. He made the monument chant: 'Remember! These giant souls set America free and kept her free. Hold fast your sacred heritage, Americans! Remember! Remember!' The first actual carving was begun in 1927. The Washington head was dedicated in 1931, representing the founding of our government; the Jefferson in 1936 for the man who made our first great expansion west with the Louisiana Purchase; Lincoln in 1937 for his preservation of the Union; the final head, Roosevelt, in 1939, for the completion of the Panama Canal. Borglum said, 'I want somewhere in America a memory of the great things we accomplished as a nation, placed so high it won't pay to pull it down for lesser purposes.' The project was nearly completed in 1941 when Borglum died. Mount Rushmore was completed by his son Lincoln with the final drilling done October 31, 1941." There are spots on both sides of the highway where you can stop, but watch the traffic if you decide to cross! UPDATE: This is Yelp hamsters at work. This was originally the Gutzon Borglum Historical Marker in Keystone, SD. So let's move it to Pierre, Yelp?

The SD Cultural Heritage Center is a wonderful facility. The museum exhibits are interesting. The…read morecurrent exhibit deals with the minuteman missiles which formed such an interesting part of state history. The museum has additional activities for the kids. The online presence of the CHC is also excellent. I particularly like the old pictures and postcards which have been scanned and placed online. Wonderful!

What a treat to see so many classic cars and for sale for the right price. third generation owned…read more they have more than just cars there. They have old back in the day buildings, caboose you can walk into, TVs, radios, motors, tractors, games and more all from back in the day too much to name all. It was a fun little stop, wait its not little 43 bldgs.o e of Dale Earnhardt's cars, the Dukes of Hazzard car a car made out of wood a two headed calf a train station/bus station?

This place is huge! You can spend a couple of hours walking through all the expansions.read more

This marker is located in the parking lot of the Fort Pierre Depot Museum. As such, there is plenty…read moreof parking for you to stop and be able to read the sign. The museum was closed when I stopped by but it looks quite interesting if you're spending time here in Pierre. The marker reads, "The oldest continuous white settlement in the area of South Dakota." "First visited by Verendrye, who took over for France by planting a lead plate on March 31, 1743. A monument marks the spot. It is over the R.R. track first street to right, on hill to you left .6 miles." "Joseph LaFrombois started first fur post here in 1817 on west bank of Missouri just south of mouth of Bad river. Whites here since then." "Practically on same site, French Fur Co., Pierre D. Papin & Pascual Cerres had post Ft. Teton 1827 sold to Am. Fur Co., 1830. Bad River, then called Little Missouri was site where Father Hoecken on June 12-13, 1840 baptized 25 children, offspring of 13 traders and trappers, among them Dorion, Papin, Halsey, Campbell, Brazeau and Alleron." "All these things happened in limits of Ft. Pierre." [Review 17839 overall - 43 in South Dakota - 1360 of 2022.]

This museum was a real fantastic look into the life and culture of the Lakota Sioux Indians of…read moreSouth Dakota. The museum contains many interesting items and clothing of the Sioux. The beaded woman's dresses are worth the visit alone. One can also find an exhibit of children's moccasins. The museum could easily charge $5-10 for an entrance fee. The gift shop is an excellent place to shop for Indian Souvenirs and is well stocked with a lot of variety from arrows, to jewelry and more. I drove about 900 miles just for this museum and would recommend it to anyone interested in this Indian culture lifestyle.

Beautiful museum with tons of information. We could have spent much more time here than we had…read moretime for. No cost to get in but donations accepted. The quilts were some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Would love to go back sometime. So much more to learn. The people who worked there went over and above to show us things we might not have otherwise seen and very friendly. June 26, 2025

I actually wasn't able to make it into this gem given my road-trip timeline, however I want to make…read moresure it ends up on Yelp because it looks awesome! For sure if you find yourself in the almost-middle-of-nowhere South Dakota, and you enjoy enriching your history lessons then make it to this place over the Wall-Drug aways down. (Tho Wall-Drug has a ton of historical photos) It's probably against Yelp policy for me to post another review here, so just search for a review on the "Virtual Tourist". There are many rooms and lots of artifacts-- all for a town of pop. 700! Note it's a town near the Indian Reservation. That the museum is only open from 6-8pm a few days a week. And also check out the missiles nearby.

We arrived here about 15 minutes before closing so we only got to take a peek inside but it looked…read morelike they had some really great exhibits. It's ok though because we really enjoyed the outside anyway. There is a veterans park area out front with military vehicles and planes and tributes to the armed services. I wish we had arrived earlier so we could have spent more time here but we enjoyed our visit nevertheless.

This was a fun place. We walked the outside and then peeked into the inside. It was a pretty…read morebuilding with pretty surroundings. The only complaint was the soggy ground, but it had been raining so what can you expect. We ordered Taco Johns while we where there and enjoyed the moment before resuming our travels. It's definitely worth taking a snapshot or two.