Bonanzaville is a pioneer village and history museum in West Fargo, ND. We explore the history of the Red River Valley, from Native Americans to the modernization of America. We have 36 historic buildings, each with their own story. Come explore our twelve acre village and the large exhibit areas which feature new displays each year!See more..
4.5Chateau de Mores State Historic Site(188 reviews) - Very good museum and home, but know the facts about the man it honors Monday: 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM Spent 1-2 hours Historic Sites • History Museums
Summer Hours: 8:30am - 5:30pm MST, Daily. Last tickets sold at 4:30pm MST. Covers entry to the Interpretive Center and Chateau de Morès. Off-Season Hours: 9:00am - 5:00pm MST, Tuesday-Saturday. Last tickets sold at 4:00pm MST. Covers entry to Interpretive Center. Located SW of Medora, the site interprets the North Dakota ambitions of Antoine de Vallombrosa, the Marquis de Morès, who arrived in 1883. His enterprises included a beef packing plant, stagecoach line, freighting company, refrigerated railway cars, cattle, and sheep raising, land ownership, and a new town named Medora in honor of his wife.See more..
4.5Fort Union Trading Post(158 reviews) - Visit when it’s not crowded! Monday: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Historic Sites
The Grandest Fort on the Upper Missouri River Between 1828 and 1867, Fort Union was the most important fur trade post on the Upper Missouri River. Here, the Assiniboine and six other Northern Plains Indian Tribes exchanged buffalo robes and smaller furs for goods from around the world, including cloth, guns, blankets, and beads. A bastion of peaceful coexistence, the post annually traded over 25,000 buffalo robes and $100,000 in merchandise.See more..
Visitors can step back in time at the reconstructed Fort Mandan, a fully furnished, full-size replica of the fort in which the Lewis and Clark Expedition overwintered in 1804-1805. Their time here was characterized by the hospitality of the Mandan and Hidatsa peoples. In fact, this is where they met and built friendships with such important figures as Sacagawea, Toussaint Charbonneau and Sheheke-Shote. Available by guided tour only, weather permitting. Many great learning experiences are available at Fort Mandan. Join one of the guided tours that depart at regular intervals throughout the day. Our interpretive staff is always on hand to bring the stories of that winter to life through programs on a wide array of related topics. Exhibits in the Visitor Center reveal that winter in greater depth, while a children's play area allows young visitors to discover history with costumes, camp supplies, and more. Our museum store offers a great selection of souvenirs, beverages, and snacks.See more..
Here, where two great rivers meet, people have gathered for thousands of years. At the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center, people still gather to understand a spot little changed since Lewis and Clark visited two centuries ago. The site, located about 22 miles southwest of Williston, features permanent and temporary exhibits, modern facilities, a picnic area and campgrounds, a walking trail, and bird watching.See more..
4.5On-A-Slant Village(83 reviews) - Incredible Tour Guide - Johann Historic Sites
Home of the Mandan Indians for over 200 years until they were virtually wiped out by smallpox.See more..
The Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site consists of two locations, the Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility (the command site) and the November-33 Launch Facility (a missile site). Constantly manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from 1966 to 1997, the two sites stood as a vanguard of the American nuclear deterrent force throughout the Cold War. Opened for tours in 2009, the State Historical Society of North Dakota provides tours of Oscar-Zero and an insight into North Dakota's vital Cold War roles.See more..
4.0Fort Buford State Historic Site(70 reviews) - Don’t Skip This—You’ll Be Glad You Visited Monday: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM Military Museums • Historic Sites
Fort Buford State Historic Site preserves remnants of a vital frontier plains military post. Fort Buford was built in 1866 near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, and became a major supply depot for military field operations. Original features still existing on the site include a stone powder magazine, the post cemetery site, and a large officers' quarters building which now houses a museum. Fort Buford, located near present-day Williston, was one of a number of military posts established to protect overland and river routes used by immigrants settling the West. While it served an essential role as the sentinel on the northern plains for twenty-nine years, it is probably best remembered as the place where the famous Hunkpapa Sioux leader, Sitting Bull, surrendered in 1881.See more..
4.5Custer House(61 reviews) - EXCELLENT TOUR Historic Sites
Reconstructed home of Gen. George Armstrong Custer.See more..
The private lives of public people are on display at the Former Governors' Mansion, home to 20 chief executives and their families from 1893 to 1960. An impressive staircase leads from the public rooms to the areas where children played, servants worked, and the families retreated from public life. Unique room exhibits feature the restoration process, architectural style changes, and furniture used by several governors.See more..
4.0Buckstop Junction(28 reviews) - Nice afternoon stop "in the past" Historic Sites
A small collection of ND's historic builings moved and preserved for all to enjoy. I believe it is all run by volunteer efforts. Nice job!See more..
4.5Fort Abercrombie State Historic Site(27 reviews) - Following our Great Great Grandfather’s Journey. Monday: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Historic Sites • History Museums
When the Red River Valley was the western frontier, Fort Abercrombie was the gateway to the West and the spearpoint of the army’s advance into the northern plains. The original guardhouse and the reconstructed blockhouses and stockade attest to the bloody conflict that spilled into the Dakotas from Minnesota in 1862. During this conflict Fort Abercrombie was besieged by Dakota warriors for almost six weeks. After the fort was abandoned in 1877, fort buildings were sold and removed from the site. A Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in 1939-1940 reconstructed three blockhouses and the stockade and returned the original military guardhouse to the site. Major portions of the WPA project have been refurbished and the site reinterpreted.See more..
The Welk Homestead, located northwest of Strasburg, interprets agriculture in the early 20th century, German Russian culture and architecture, and the career of bandleader Lawrence Welk, who grew up on the farm. The 6.11 acre site is the homestead of Ludwig and Christina Welk, who immigrated from near Odessa, Russia, in 1893. Nearly 120,000 people of German heritage left Russia for the US between 1870 and 1920, mainly due to political pressures. Free or cheap land drew many to North Dakota, settling mainly in the south central counties of Emmons, Logan, and McIntosh. The house was built in 1899 of dried mud brick known as batsa, a common construction method of the Germans from Russia both on the Russian steppe and the North American prairie. Additional architectural features also point to the family's German Russian heritage. A summer kitchen, outhouse, blacksmith shop, and granary, as well as a barn moved onto the site in about 1949, are also open seasonally.See more..
Before there was Bismarck, there was Camp Hancock. Built in 1872 as a bustling military supply post, it became a national weather station in 1894. Camp Hancock is home to the oldest building in Bismarck, as well as an 1881 church and a locomotive from the glory days of steam transportation. The building houses interpretive exhibits and artifacts. The grounds are open daily, but buildings are currently closed.See more..
4.5Fort Totten State Historic Site(15 reviews) - Wonderful Hidden Gem Monday: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Military Museums • Historic Sites
Visit one of the best-preserved frontier military forts in the United States. When the military left, Fort Totten became one of the largest Indian boarding schools in the nation. Explore the 17 original buildings that once rang with the jingle of cavalry harness and the shouts of playing children. Listen for the echoes of the past when you stay at the Fort Totten Inn, located in one of the original fort buildings.See more..
4.0Von Hoffman House(11 reviews) - OK but not great Spent < 1 hour Historic Sites
This is a historic home and you do your own tour. It could be improved with tour guides who know something about the history of the town.See more..
Fort Clark State Historic Site is one of the most important archeological sites in the state because of its well-preserved record of the fur trade and of personal tragedy. More than 150 years ago, it was the scene of devastating smallpox and cholera epidemics that decimated most of the inhabitants of a Mandan and later an Arikara Indian village. The archaeological remains of the large earthlodge village, cemetery, and two fur trade posts (Fort Clark Trading Post and Primeau's Post) are protected at the site, located one and one-quarter mile west of the town of Fort Clark, Mercer County.See more..
This site marks the scene of the fiercest clash between Indians and white soldiers in North Dakota. On September 3, 1863, General Alfred Sully's troops attacked a tipi camp of Yanktonai, some Dakota, Hunkpapa Lakota, and Blackfeet (Sihasapa Lakota), as part of a military mission to punish participants of the Dakota Conflict of 1862. Many Indian men, women, and children died or were captured. Military casualties were comparatively light. The Indians also suffered the destruction of virtually all of their property, leaving them nearly destitute for the coming winter. There are two monuments, one honoring the Indian dead and a second commemorating the soldiers who died in the battle. A marker also recognizes two early settlers, Tom and Mary Shimmin. A fieldstone shelter beside the trail provides a resting point overlooking part of the battlefield and a freshwater lake. Nearby is a picnic area with a shelter, table, pit toilets, and a parking lot.See more..
The Maltese Cross Cabin ranger program was literally the first experience we had of what would be a multi-state, two week vacation through the Dakotas, so I am biased on the newness of it all, but this was wonderful. The cottonwood trees were blowing their fluff too which made it ethereal as we stood outside. We came whipping over from the Rough Riders Hotel with about 30 seconds to spare slipping into this ranger program on the history of the cabin. I wish I could remember our ranger’s name but she was excellent. She had tons of factoids and tidbits to impart as she walked us (literally and figuratively) around and through the history, and how this all came to be here in Medora North Dakota. Kids actually seemed to like this program too. I would highly recommend if visiting the park to add this into your plans - it will give you a good foundation on the history of the man and how the national park came to be.See more..
4.0Garrison Dam(5 reviews) - On big man made dam! Spent 1-2 hours Historic Sites • Dams
A sportsman and recreational paradise! Beautiful sunsets and sunrises. Several campgrounds in the area that take reservations. Abundant wildlife and fishing will keep you coming back year after year!See more..
The Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site preserves the 1840s home and trading post of Métis legislator and businessman Antoine Blanc Gingras, northeast of Walhalla, Pembina County. Métis, meaning "mixed blood" or "mixed race," is a term used by people of combined Indian and European ancestry to describe themselves. Gingras was a prominent fur trader, who in 1861 claimed a net worth of $60,000 and later increased his holdings to include a chain of trading posts extending across northern Dakota Territory and southern Manitoba. Gingras's hand-hewn oak log store and home are among the few tangible remains of the fur trade in the Red River Valley.See more..
We saw the sight as we were driving by and stopped for a tour. It was part of the Stanley Mickelson Safeguard System of the Cold War era. The tour was fascinating as we went through the bunker and looked at the middle tubes. The owner was very knowledgeable. Even though the military removed all equipment it was a must see. See more..
The Stutsman County Courthouse, built in 1883, is the oldest surviving courthouse in North Dakota and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. During the days of the Dakota Territory, meetings were held in the courthouse in preparation for statehood. The building is considered a superb but rare example in the Upper Midwest of the Gothic-Revival style of architecture. The interior is outstanding for its stamped metal ornamentation that dates to 1905. Restoration efforts have been continuous since the 1990s. In recent years, the courthouse has seen tremendous progress on the interior restoration. Visitors to the site will truly see historic preservation in action!See more..
5.0Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church(1 review) - Spend some time Historic Sites • Churches & Cathedrals Only 5 minutes away from the Lawrence Welk homesite is this stunning 1911 Catholic church. Remarkable stained window windows. Call for mass times and events. Spend a few minutes in reflection.See more..
Writing Rock State Historical Site(0 review) Historic Sites • Points of Interest & Landmarks Two granite boulders inscribed with thunderbird figures are exhibited at this site. The designs on the rocks are clearly American Indian, despite unfounded speculation attributing the origins of the “mysterious carvings” to Vikings, Chinese, or others. Similar rock art sites are found in Roch Percée and Kamsack, Saskatchewan; Long-view and Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, Alberta; Pictograph Cave near Billings, Montana; Dinwoody, Wyoming; Ludlow Cave, South Dakota; and at numerous archeological sites in the upper Midwestern United States. The two boulders are enclosed in a shelter and protected by iron bars. Recreational facilities at the historic site include picnic tables in a grove of trees, picnic shelters, a building with a kitchen, fireplace, playground equipment, restrooms, and a parking lot.See more..
