Small local museums are a great source of information about
where you are staying. Many are run by
the local historical society and the people working there can answer lots of
questions you may have about the area, including the best place to get lunch.
On my driving vacation “out west” I stopped in a few of
these museums that I would recommend.
Mammoth Site,
Hot Springs, SD
http://www.mammothsite.com/
Admission
Ages 3 & Under Free
Ages 4 to 12 $7.00
Ages 13 to 59 $9.00
Ages 60 and over $8.00
Now this one is well known and publicized but in reality it
is a small private museum. It happens to
have a fantastic collection of woolly mammoth skeletons that are being
excavated by archaeologists and paleontologists.
You can actually see them working if you get there during the day in the
summer. It is a powerful site to be in the room and see all of the bones there
especially as the tusks are so identifiable.
Trails, Trains & Pioneers Museum
Edgemont, SD.
Admission Free
Quite honestly this started out as a bathroom stop. On a very long stretch of highway I spotted a
“free museum” sign on the highway and thought, they probably have a bathroom, I must
stop. The museum is a quaint small town historical society museum with an assortment of local history around (you guessed it) Trails,
Trains and Pioneers. There is a section
dedicated to memories of the local high school and some fine antiques that you
may not see any place else. As they
recommend, don’t miss the “rock room” to see some great geodes, petrified wood
and other cool rocks.
Stagecoach Museum
Lusk, WY
A wonderful surprise in Lusk was the Stagecoach Museum,
which was recommended by the women at the Trails, Trains & Pioneer
museum. The Stagecoach museum is housed
in the old armory building and as you may imagine, holds in its collection one
of the last stagecoaches that made the 200 mile trek across country. It has a great collection of costumes , including
the town Madame’s dress with the fox collar, photos and memorabilia. Be sure to pop out back and see the oldest
building in Lusk as well as the patented snow plow.
