Page 29 - visitor-guide-2020-2021

South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center statues, which provide visitors the opportunity to learn about the
The extensive collections of the South Dakota Cultural Heritage life and times of these great leaders.
Center preserve the historical and cultural legacy of the state’s The trail of governors extends from the Capitol grounds,
early Sioux inhabitants and the first waves of European settlers. through the business district, to the shores of the Missouri
Open year-round, the museum features permanent, rotating River. Trail maps are widely available at the Chamber of
and traveling exhibits. Admission is charged; kids under 17 are Commerce and local businesses. For more information visit
admitted free. 900 Governors Drive, Pierre, SD. 605.773.3458. www.trailofgovernors.com.
www.history.sd.gov.
Oahe Dam Visitor Center
Lewis & Clark Family Center It’s always beautiful on Lake Oahe! Take in the view and
Feel the difference between elk and buffalo hides. Learn learn about Lake Oahe, the Missouri River, the Oahe Dam and
to identify the tracks of native animals. See a dug-out canoe the power plant through exhibits and brochures. Open year
of the kind used on Lewis and Clark’s historic expedition. The round. Seven miles north of Pierre on South Dakota Highway
interactive displays of the Lewis and Clark Family Center, 1804. 605.224.4617.
located on Farm Island, offer hands-on lessons in U.S. history.
Farm Island Recreation Area, 1301 Farm Island Road, Pierre, Oahe Chapel
SD. 605.773.2885. E-mail: FarmIsland@state.sd.us. Adjacent to the Visitor Center is the Oahe Chapel. Built in
1877, the chapel was both church and schoolhouse for the
South Dakota National Guard Museum Oahe Mission and the Sioux Indians it served. Services are
Established in 1862 as a frontier militia, the South Dakota at 8 a.m. Sundays, Memorial Day through Labor Day. Persons
National Guard is tightly woven into the state’s history. The interested in seeing the Chapel can inquire at the Oahe Dam
South Dakota National Guard Museum in Pierre is the state’s Visitor Center.
repository for relics, memorabilia and historical documents
Casey Tibbs South Dakota Rodeo Center &
Mattie Goff-Newcombe Conference Center
The Casey Tibbs South Dakota Rodeo Center is a historical
museum devoted to the sport of South Dakota rodeo, the history
and its stars. Although the Center will collect and display the
rodeo memorabilia of superstars like Casey Tibbs and Mattie
Goff-Newcombe, its broader reach will extend into the rich
culture which has made rodeo such an important part of the
history of South Dakota. 605.494.1094. www.caseytibbs.com.

Fort Pierre Chouteau
In the mid-1800s, Fort Pierre Chouteau was the largest
trading post on the upper Missouri River, a thriving community
of traders, trappers and Native Americans. Today, not much
remains of the fort’s wooden bastions and buildings but the site
is a National Historic Landmark.

Verendrye Museum
relating to the Guard’s activities from the late 1800s through Named for the first Europeans to visit South Dakota, the
recent peacekeeping missions. 301 E. Dakota, Pierre, SD. Verendrye Museum is located on Deadwood Street in Fort
605.773.2475. Hours are 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Pierre. The museum houses pioneer relics and a reproduction
of the lead tablet brothers Chevalier and Louis la Verendrye
South Dakota Discovery Center buried in a bluff above the Missouri River, thereby claiming
Fun, interactive learning is the focus of the South for France the territory that eventually became the Louisiana
Dakota Discovery Center. More than 60 hands-on exhibits Purchase. The Fort Pierre Railroad Depot contains original
illustrate principles of electricity, magnetism, life sciences, telegraph and other railroad and local memorabilia. Open
telecommunications, and physics. 805 W. Sioux Ave., Pierre, SD. Memorial Day to Labor Day. 605.223.7761.
605.224.8295. www.sd-discovery.org.
Pierre’s First Schoolhouse
Trail of Governors Pierre’s first schoolhouse was built by Max Schubert to be
In 2010, The Trail of Governors Foundation was born due to used as a temporary drug store until a larger two-story building
the chance encounter between two like-minded businessmen. could be built. In 1881, it was used as a school for one year,
Their goal: To commission life-sized statues of each South with 18 students attending until the public school was opened
Dakota governor. South Dakota artists work to create the bronze in October. It was moved to its present location in Steamboat
www.pierre.org | 29