1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (82 page)

The Corn Palace, with its distinctive Moorish domes and minarets, is in its third incarnation.

W
HERE
: 75 miles west of Sioux Falls; 604 North Main St. Tel 866–273-CORN or 605–996-6223;
www.cornpalace.com
.
W
HEN
: closed Sat–Sun, Nov–April.
B
EST TIMES
: Murals are begun in spring and completed by late summer. Early Sept for the festival and optimal mural viewing (
www.cornpalacefestival.com
).

The Black Hills: Holy Land of the Sioux

South Dakota

For the generation that saw it born, Mount Rushmore was the symbol of American optimism after the triumph of WWI. For many who grew up in the 1950s and ’60s, it became a symbol of the family road trip
.

And for American Indians of any generation, it’s a complicated symbol of broken treaties and loss.

Conceived in 1924 by Danish-American sculptor Gutzon Borglum, the great sculptures on Rushmore were to be a “Shrine of Democracy” that would use the presidents’ images to trace the country’s history, from its birth (Washington) through its early growth (Jefferson), preservation (Lincoln), and robust development in the 20th century (Teddy Roosevelt). Work on the monument began on October 4, 1927, and ended 14 years later, on October 31, 1941. When the granite dust
cleared, Rushmore had been transformed forever, with four enormous faces, six stories high, peering into the Black Hills.

Though America hailed Borglum’s great achievement (completed by the sculptor’s son, Lincoln, after his father’s death), the work was a slap in the face to South Dakota’s Lakota people, to whom
Paha Sapa
(the Black Hills) was a sacred place that figured prominently in their creation stories. An 1868 treaty had deeded the land to the Sioux “in perpetuity,” but their ownership lasted only six years. When gold was discovered in the area, the U.S. government reclaimed the land. In 1876, when the government ordered all Lakota bands onto reservations, the great chiefs Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and Gall organized a resistance that eventually destroyed the Seventh Cavalry in General George Custer’s Last Stand at the Little Bighorn (see p. 618). But the Sioux’s victory was short-lived: In less than two years Crazy Horse was dead, and their fate was sealed.

In 1939, as the faces of the presidents were emerging from the granite, the Sioux began planning their own memorial, inviting Boston-born sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski to carve the image of Crazy Horse into another Black Hills mountain, 17 miles southwest of Rushmore. Work finally began in 1947 on Ziolkowski’s grand vision: Unlike the sculptures at Rushmore, which are carved onto just one side of a peak, Crazy Horse would be sculpted in the round, the great chief sitting astride a horse, his arm outstretched. The memorial would also be massive, measuring 563 feet high and 641 feet long, utterly dwarfing Rushmore. (His arm alone is longer than a football field.)

Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers sculpted the impressive 60-foot busts of the former U.S. presidents between 1927 and 1941.

Such a thing takes time and effort. Following his death in 1982, Ziolkowski’s family has carried on with the work. Today, with several million tons of rock blasted away from the mountain, Crazy Horse’s head, arm, and the top of his horse’s head are in various states of completion. A final completion date is impossible to predict, but, as the project’s motto says, “Never forget your dreams.”

M
T
. R
USHMORE
: 25 miles southwest of Rapid City. Tel 605–574-2523;
www.nps.gov/moru
.
C
RAZY
H
ORSE
: Tel 605–673-4681;
www.crazyhorsememorial.org
.
B
EST TIMES
: summer evenings for illumination ceremony of Rushmore and for the Crazy Horse “Legends in Light” multimedia laser light show; 1st weekend in June for the 10K Crazy Horse Volksmarch, an organized hike up the Crazy Horse mountain.

A Medieval European Tradition in the Dakotas

Spearfish, South Dakota

The Black Hills Passion Play is nothing short of monumental. A modern American version of the medieval European tradition of dramatizing the last days of Jesus of Nazareth, the play is performed on one of the largest
outdoor stages in the country by 24 professional actors and 150 extras, using dialogue derived from the King James Version of the Bible. The stage is two and a half city blocks long, big enough to accommodate Roman soldiers on horseback, a camel caravan, and permanent sets that include the Temple of Jerusalem, Pilate’s Palace, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the road to Golgotha. The crucifixion is reen-acted on an adjacent hillside.

It began in 1932, when Josef Meier, a German emigrant, began directing a touring passion play company, in which he also starred as Jesus. In 1939 the company was invited by a group of South Dakota businessmen to base the production in their hometown of Spearfish, and the Black Hills Passion Play was born. Meier continued to play the role of Jesus until 1991, logging more than 9,000 performances. Today Meier’s daughter, Johanna Meier Della Vecchia, continues the family tradition, performing as Mary with her husband, Guido, who portrays Judas.

Six thousand patrons can view the spectacle from the amphitheater’s open-air seats, surrounded by the beauty of the Black Hills. To date, more than ten million people have attended performances here, coming from as far away as Europe, South America, Japan, and Australia.

W
HERE
: 65 miles north of Mt. Rushmore. Tel 800–457-0160 or 605–642-2646;
www.theblackhillspassionplay.com
.
C
OST
: from $20.
W
HEN
: Sun, Tues, and Thurs, June–Aug.

Vroom, Vroom!

Sturgis, South Dakota

For folks who like bikes, there’s no place like Sturgis, a small town (population 6,442) that annually hosts the biggest motorcycle rally in America. Historians trace the event back to 1936, when Clarence “Pappy” Hoel
established an Indian motorcycle franchise in town and founded the Jackpine Gypsies Motorcycle Club. Two years later the club held the first Black Hills Motor Classic, with nine participants and a small audience. Today the rally—known to most as just Sturgis—attracts over half a million people every year for a week of bike shows, concerts, races, demos, group rides, camaraderie, and plain old partying. Attendees run the gamut from those who live the Harley life to CEOs who put on their leathers only on weekends. Hundreds of vendors sell clothing, accessories, food, and drink, and tattoo artists do a brisk business. It’s like Mardi Gras with chrome, though things have quieted down some since the good old days, when it was fairly common to see naked people riding down Main Street. The average attendee is in his mid-forties, and it’s not uncommon to see baby strollers among the hogs.

Bikes line the streets during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Yes, there’s lots of booze (Jack Daniel’s is a major sponsor, and bobbing for free beer in a bucket of ice water is a tradition at the Dungeon Bar); yes, there’s a lot of rock ’n’ roll (recent concerts have included ZZ Top, Kid Rock, and George Thorogood); and campgrounds like the Buffalo Chip (site of many of the concerts) get pretty wild, but Sturgis isn’t all just a big party. Outside town, the scenic byways of the Black Hills National Forest are some of the most gorgeous anywhere, and legions of riders head to Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial (see p. 657), and beyond. Back in town, bike buffs explore the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame. And lest we forget that bikers are all big romantic softies at heart, each year Sturgis’s county courthouse issues more than 100 marriage licenses during bike week. Ain’t love grand?

W
HERE
: 24 miles north of Rapid City. Tel 605–720-0800;
www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com
.
B
UFFALO
C
HIP
C
AMPGROUND
: Belle Fourche. Tel 605–892-4101;
www.buffalochip.com
.
Cost:
1-week rally pass from $155 per person, includes campsite, facilities use, and access to all concerts on the campground. Day passes from $17, depending on the day’s concert.
W
HEN
: the 1-week rally starts the 1st Mon after 1st complete Aug weekend.

“Free Ice Water” in the Middle of Nowhere

Wall, South Dakota

Like Zsa Zsa Gabor, Wall Drug is famous for being famous. It all started back in 1931, when Ted and Dorothy Hustead bought a small drugstore in a small town on the edge of the South Dakota Badlands (see p. 652)
.

Dorothy’s father described Wall as “just about as godforsaken as you can get,” but it suited the young couple.

Fast-forward four years, to the middle of the Great Depression. In the middle of nowhere, with business flat and no prospects in sight, Dorothy tried to nap away a hot July day but was kept awake by the sound of traffic on the nearby highway. It was then that she experienced her eureka moment: If you promise free ice water, the people will come. And come they did, even before Ted had finished planting the first signs along Highway 16A. The following year the Husteads had to hire extra help to manage the crowds. Ted made the next logical leap: The more signs you put up, the more people will come.

So Ted made
lots
of signs. During WWII, a friend put up signs in Europe advertising the distance to Wall Drug. Soon GIs were writing, asking for more signs, slapping them all over the continent and beyond. Advertising in the London Underground and other seemingly illogical places followed, but who can argue
with success? Today, Wall Drug has been transformed from the only pharmacy within 6,000 square miles to one of the biggest tourist attractions in South Dakota, pulling in 20,000 visitors a day. It sprawls over 76,000 square feet of Western-themed floor space, selling everything from hand-tooled cowboy boots to camping gear, horse liniment, and shelf upon shelf of Wall Drug souvenirs. A cowboy orchestra plays like clockwork every 15 minutes, hundreds of Western paintings and artifacts line the walls, and if you’re hungry you can grab a buffalo burger at the 400-seat restaurant and wash it down with a glass of French wine. Ice water is still free, and the vibe is still good old-fashioned Western hospitality, as testified by the locals who sometimes sit around all day enjoying the nickel cups of coffee. If you like, you can get in on the joke that made Wall famous: Anyone who asks for it will get a free Wall Drug sign, as long as they promise to display it and send back a snapshot of it on location. The walls of Wall are lined with these photos. Who knew that it’s only 10,728 miles from the Taj Mahal to Wall Drug?