Rapid City, South Dakota...City of Presidents!

Ken 'in jail' with the Sundance Kid

On Wednesday, September 5th, we left Mountain View RV Park and stopped in downtown Sundance on our way out of town. We spied a statue of the Sundance Kid (aka Harry Longabaugh) sitting in his reconstructed jail cell next to the courthouse. Sadly, both the original courthouse and jail were torn down in the 1950s and the courthouse was replaced by the current style-less bunker we visited. Too bad the town didn't realize the historical gem before they dispensed with it.

Indictment of the Sundance Kid

In any case, we popped into the Crook County Museum, a free museum offering a slice of history about the area including everything from its paleontology and geology to its pioneers, homemakers, and artifacts from the Sundance Kid's turn in town. Next to a display of the furniture from the courthouse we saw his indictment papers in a glass case.

A large barn exhibit displayed some of the tools common to farms of the late 1800s and in another area we walked through a makeshift kitchen from the early 1940s, complete with all the modern conveniences like the first electric sweeper and an enormous clothes pressing machine.

Future home of the Crook County Museum

We chatted briefly with the friendly museum clerk who pointed out some of the antiquities of the museum and thanked us genuinely for stopping to visit. Cramped in the basement of the current courthouse, we learned the museum plans to move to the Old Stoney Building (formerly the high school) by 2015. Nice.

Toe-dipping!

We drove out of Sundance and east into South Dakota. After a brief stop at a visitor center, we headed into the Black Hills, once again through Deadwood. We made our way to the almost completely deserted campground at Pactola Lake, which shimmered nearby in the afternoon sun. We set up camp, one of only a handful of occupied campsites in the large park, and set off for the lake to dip our toes.

Toe-dipping at Pactola Lake

The lake's beauty from even a short distance belies its shoreline of jagged, sharp shale fragments. Nonetheless, we gingerly stepped out of our shoes and groaned as we headed for the water, only a couple of steps away. Though nicely warmed by the sun, the water was of little relief with the sharp gravel still under our feet. Oh well, we tried.

We headed out to to Rapid City, about 15 miles away to see the 'City of Presidents'. Following Don Perdue's idea to boost the economy and provide an identity to the city, fundraising began in 1999 to realize his dream. By 2000, the first four US presidents sculpted in bronze were placed on street corners in Rapid City. In 2002, Perdue bought a historic building downtown and established the Presidents Information Center, where we collected a self-guided walking tour brochure.

William H. Taft

In 2010, the last statues of the 42 former presidents were placed. As we hiked around to the statues, we read about the artists' intent for each of them. Attempting to convey a sense of each man's personality and presidency, the artists sought to avoid the staid statuary common to great men where they stand in uniform or formal suit with no sense of the man as a friend, husband or neighbor. This came through brilliantly.

Lyndon Johnson

We found President Taft on the pitchers mound holding a baseball, ready to throw a 'heater'. As a young man, Taft had been drafted to play professional baseball but chose instead to attend Yale Law School. We learned through the brochure that President Monroe began the custom of politicians kissing babies and that President McKinley is to blame for the advent of political telemarketing, having first called on constituents to campaign for himself.

Dubya

We snapped pictures of Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, George W. Bush, Reagan, Nixon, Eisenhower, Taft, George H.W. Bush, Lyndon Johnson, Teddy Roosevelt, Madison, Monroe, Jefferson, Lincoln and Truman. Though we didn't visit with all the other presidents, we admired the work on all the ones we did see. Truman can be seen with a huge grin on his face, clutching the infamous newspaper erroneously announcing his opponent's win. We found Lyndon Johnson, in typical style, leaning intimidatingly towards his audience while sitting on the edge of his desk.

Truman's victory

We strolled to dinner at the beautiful Firehouse Brewing Company whose positive attributes, much to our dismay, ended with the pretty exterior. Despite the lackluster dinner, we enjoyed learning about each of our presidents and finding their interesting statues adorning the corners of Rapid City. We returned to the RV and worked on our travel plans for the upcoming weeks for several hours before heading to bed.