North Dakota's State Historic Sites to Feature Free Admission on International Museum Day May 18
-Adm-SHS News Releases
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2010
Contact: Fern Swenson or Diane Rogness
(701) 328-2666
NORTH DAKOTA’S STATE HISTORIC SITES TO FEATURE
FREE ADMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM DAY MAY 18
BISMARCK -- Admission will be free at all North Dakota state historic sites Tuesday, May 18, in honor of National Historic Preservation Month. The sites open for the season Sunday, May 16 and remain open through September 15.
The State Historical Society of North Dakota (SHSND) manages 55 state historic sites. Five of these usually charge admission, but they will be free May 18. They are the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site near Cooperstown, Chateau de Mores State Historic Site in Medora, Fort Buford State Historic Site near Williston, Fort Totten State Historic Site near Devils Lake, and Fort Abercrombie State Historic Site near Fargo. There will also be free admission to the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center near Williston, and the seven-story high observation tower overlooking the Red River Valley at the Pembina State Museum. National Preservation Month, sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation since 1971, is a major event showcasing grassroots preservation activities in communities nationwide. “Old is the New Green!” is the theme of this year’s observance. The five state historic sites featuring free admission May 18 provide visitors with a variety of history-rich experiences. Specifically:
• Chateau de Mores State Historic Site – The Chateau was the summer home of the French nobleman and entrepreneur, the Marquis de Mores, who came west in 1883. His enterprises included establishing the town of Medora and a meat-packing plant (now Chimney Park). A new $2 million interpretive center opened in April 2008, featuring exhibits and artifacts telling the story of the Marquis and his family. Also featured are original chateau and out-buildings, tours of the Chateau and interpretive signs at Chimney Park.
• Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site – The most contemporary of the SHSND’s sites, it was operational until 1997. It actually consists of two sites – the Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility (MAF) and the nearby November-33 Launch Facility (LF), the military designation names. Visitors to Oscar-Zero are given a guided tour of topside facilities and can be guided 60 feet down the elevator shaft to the underground Launch Control Equipment Building and Launch Control Center, where they will see first hand the front lines of the United States’ strategy of nuclear deterrence.
• Fort Totten State Historic Site – Established in 1867, Fort Totten is one of the best preserved frontier military forts in the Trans-Mississippi West. It also served as an Indian boarding school and community school from 1891 to 1959. Featured are interpretive center exhibits including Land in Her, a museum store, 17 original buildings, and Pioneer Daughters’ Museum. Visitors can enjoy a bed and breakfast stay at the site’s Totten Trail Historic Inn, converted from its original use as an officers’ quarters and later as Indian school apartments. For reservations, call (701) 766-4874 or visit its web site at www.tottentrailinn.com.
• Fort Buford State Historic Site – Visitors will see U. S. Army barracks reconstructed in 2004 which feature the frontier barracks as they looked in the 1870s, including a sergeant’s room, company room, kitchen and mess hall. Fort Buford was established in 1866 to guard the trails west and serve as a major supply depot. The fort incarcerated several famous American Indian leaders, including Sitting Bull, Gall and Chief Joseph. Featured are exhibits, including Life by the Bugle, museum store, officer of the day and stone powder magazine buildings, marked cemetery, and the Field Officer’s Quarters where Sitting Bull surrendered in 1881. Visitors can also enjoy the nearby Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center, located one-half mile east of Fort Buford.
• Fort Abercrombie State Historic Site – A new $1.3 million interpretive center opened in May 2008, enhancing this military post known historically as “the Gateway to the Dakotas.” The fort served the early Dakota settlements and guarded Red River traffic from 1857 to 1877, and was besieged by the Dakota (Sioux) during the Dakota Conflict of 1862. The site also completed a $500,000 renovation and reconstruction project in 2002, which included reconstructed blockhouses and palisade walls.
• The Pembina State Museum, located off Exit 215 on I-29 at Pembina, N.D., is open year-round. It interprets 100 million years of regional history, and includes an information center and museum store. Featured are the exhibits, Emigrants from the Empires: North Dakota’s Germans, examining what it meant to be a German in North Dakota before and after both world wars; and Pembina Today, highlighting trends in industry, agriculture and recreation in northeast North Dakota.
Also free and open to the public, beginning May 16, are many other sites managed by the SHSND, including:
• The Former Governors’ Mansion State Historic Site – This Bismarck site was a Victorian-style residence for 20 governors from 1893 to 1960. Unique exhibits feature the restoration process, architectural style changes, and furniture used by several governors. The restored carriage house dating to 1903 features the exhibit, From Buckets of Oats to Quarts of Oil, representing a time of transition from the age of the horse and buggy to the era of the automobile.
• Camp Hancock State Historic Site – The exhibit, The Four Seasons at Camp Hancock, is featured in the Commanding Officer’s Quarters, which has served as the museum for over 40 years. Built in 1872, it is the oldest building in Bismarck and only structure remaining from the U.S. Army infantry post stationed here from 1872 to 1877. After it was decommissioned, it served as the U. S. Weather Bureau Station for the region from 1894 to 1940.
• Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site – Established by Métis trader Antoine Gingras in the 1840s, the oak-log post and home near Walhalla are among the oldest standing structures built by Euro-Americans and few visible remains of the fur trader era in the Red River Valley.
• Fort Clark Trading Post State Historic Site – One of the three major fur trading posts on the upper Missouri River, this 19th Century American Fur Company fort also served as a Mandan earthlodge village and later as an Arikara village. Located near Washburn, it contains earthlodge depressions and ruins of two posts. In addition to new interpretive signs, visitors will find an improved parking area and entrance, and an observation deck, picnic area and restrooms.
• Double Ditch Indian Village State Historic Site – Overlooking the Missouri eight miles north of Bismarck, this site contains the remains of earthlodges made by the Mandans between 1490 and 1785. A small band of Teton Sioux lived near the village ruins when Lewis and Clark passed by in 1804, and this was recorded in their journals. Travelers will also find new interpretive signs at two other American Indian sites administered by the Society – Huff Indian Village State Historic Site 20 miles south of Mandan, which preserves a large Mandan village occupied around AD 1450; and Menoken Indian Village State Historic Site 12 miles east of Bismarck, thought to be one of the earliest fortified sites near the Missouri, dating to about 800 years ago.
• Whitestone Hill Battlefield State Historic Site – A haven for buffalo and other big game, this area attracted Dakota (Sioux) peoples for annual hunts. General Alfred Sully battled with Sioux warriors here in September 1863, resulting in the deaths of 22 soldiers and some 100 to 300 Indian people, and another 150 were captured. It was the last clash of the 1863 U.S. Army campaign, and the last major battle between soldiers and American Indians east of the Missouri River. This site near Kulm includes two monuments, and park, picnic and recreational facilities.
Interpretive programs and events are scheduled at several state historic sites this summer. For more information, contact the State Historical Society at (701) 328-2666 or visit the SHSND’s web site at www.history.nd.gov
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