Badlands and Black Hills - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 528

Drive 55
Badlands and Black Hills
Rising from the austere beauty of the Badlands and the South Dakota plains,
the Black Hills embraces a remarkably diverse wonderland of domes, needlelike
spires, rolling prairie, endless caverns, old-fashioned mining towns, and monu-
mental works of art.
Length: About 360 miles
When to go: Popular year-round
Words to the wise: Some sections of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway are closed in
winter.
Nearby attractions: BearButteStatePark,northeastofSturgis;DevilsTowerNational
Monument, Wyoming; Wounded Knee, south of Badlands National Park
Visitor centers: BadlandsNationalPark,Mt.RushmoreNationalMemorial,WindCave
National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument
Further information: South Dakota Department of Tourism
www.travelsd.com
1. Prairie Homestead
The settlers who laid claim to the Dakota Territory were a hardy and resourceful bunch.
Withfewtreestosupplylumber,theybuilthousesfromtheonlymaterialathand—theearth
itself. Most of these structures have long since washed away, but a rare exception is the sod-
and-log home of Edgar and Alice Brown, who homesteaded 160 acres near the Badlands in
1909. Built of rough-hewn logs and bricks of buffalo-grass sod, the house is partly dug into
an embankment to shield it from the biting prairie winds. Crude pioneer furnishings, many