Destination: Deadwood

The weekend is here, and we're ready to spend the day in the Wild West! So we're off to Deadwood, SD!

Information Center

Deadwood is ready for tourists! They have so many activities and programs going on at different locations throughout town, and the information center is the place to start to learn about the activities you can participate in. 

Even though Deadwood is open all year long, many of the tourist events and locations are seasonal, only open May-September. Since we came in September, we're here at the end of the season, which means some locations or events are starting to come to an end.

So we made sure to start our day at the information center to learn what still open, today's specific programs, and to learn how to participate in two of the challenges. 

#WildBillMe Challenge

The first challenge was the #WildBillMe challenge. Wild Bill is a legendary figure of the American Old West who was shot and killed while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, making him Deadwood’s most famous resident, even though he was only in town a few short weeks. So you'll find his likeness all over Historic Deadwood. 

The #WildBillMe challenge is a selfie treasure hunt to take as many pictures with Wild Bill likenesses around town. 10 selfies wins a #WildBillMe sticker; 15 and you’ll get a magnet; 25 Wild Bills and you’ll get a treasure bag with chocolate coins along with the first two prizes.

PastPort Booklet

The second challenge is to collect 6 stamps from the 8 participating locations in the PastPort booklet (2 complimentary locations were pre-stamped). Once you have collected 6 stamps, return your PastPort to a Deadwood Information Center to receive a prize. 

The 8 participating attractions are: 

1. Adams Museum
2. Broken Boot Gold Mine
3. Days of '76 Museum
4. Deadwood Visitor Information Locations
5. Deadwood Trolley
6. Historic Adams House
7. Mount Moriah Cemetery 
8. Trial of Jack McCall

The Information Locations and Trolley were already stamped. Because we were here at the end of the tourist season, the Broken Boot Gold Mine was already closed for the season. The Trial of Jack McCall was an evening event that happened after the Information Center closed. Since we were only there for the day, that meant we could only get stamps for the Adams Museum, Days of '76 Museum, Historic Adams House, and Mount Moriah Cemetery.

Unfortunately, since we here at the end of the season, both Information Centers had run out of PastPorts. They recommended checking one of the participating attractions to see if they have any copies left. So we headed to our first attraction, ready to spend the day running around Deadwood, collecting attraction stamps while taking lots of selfies with Wild Bill. 

Adams Museum

We started at the Adams Museum, which was right across the street from the Information Center. Luckily, they had a few copies of PastPorts. After collecting our PastPorts and our stamp for Adams Museum, we took the time to learn more about the history of Deadwood, including several natural history displays.

We managed to get many of our #WildBillMe selfies here.

Wild West Re-enactment

At this point, we needed to take a quick break for lunch and a Wild West re-enactment. We grabbed a quick lunch on Historic Main Street before heading over to the re-enactment location on Outlaw Square, across the street from the Franklin Hotel.

The re-enactments are true stories of a shooting with fictitious dialogue. All the actors are mic'd, so as long as you are on the street, you'll be able to hear the production.

Today's afternoon show was "The Strange Tale of David Lunt," who was accidentally shot in a Deadwood bar. Even though the bullet exited out the back of his head, he surprised everyone by getting up and walking away, as if uninjured. He continued to live for 2 more months before complaining of headaches and dying.

Mount Moriah Cemetery 

Next, we tried to go to the Historic Adams House. But we didn't realize they only offered scheduled tours. We had already missed the current tour, and the next one would start in about 50 minutes. We decided to try to fit in visiting the cemetery before the next tour, so we quickly went to grab our truck to head to the cemetery, which was a must. The hill going up to the cemetery was no joke. We grabbed our stamp at the entrance before heading in.

Mount Moriah is the final resting place of Deadwood's past residents, including western legends, murderers, madams, and pillars of Deadwood’s early economic development, such notables as Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.

While the cemetery offered a piece of history by honoring its ancestors, it is situated on a mountainous plateau overlooking Deadwood Gulch, offering the best overview of the town.

Historic Adams House

We quickly got back in our car to make it back down to the Historic Adams House in time for their last tour of the day.

Even though this was the most expensive attraction, it was the most immersive as well. It was like stepping back in time as we walked through this 1892 house owned by one of Deadwood's affluential families. 

The tour guide was quiet knowledgable about both the Adams family and the time period of the house. 

Days of '76 Museum

We had to drive to the other side of town to make to the Days of '76 Museum before it closed. Apparently, this is where all the remaining PastPorts were.

The bottom floor was full of many kinds of carriages. We had no idea there were so many different kinds of carriages. There was also a firearms exhibit showing the history of guns used in the Black Hills.

As we were leaving, we saw some rams grazing at the museum's entrance. 

Collecting Our Prize

We ended our afternoon by heading back to the Information Center to show our #WildBillMe selfies and our completed PastPorts to collect our prizes. 

Our complete prize collection included: 2 #WildBillMe stickers, 2 #WildBillMe magnets, a bag of chocolate coins, a deck of Deadwood cards, and a chocolate bar from a local candy shop. 

Downtown Deadwood

After a busy day visiting those 4 attractions, we wanted a more relaxing evening. So we ended our night downtown.

We leisurely walked up and down the downtown area, stopping in a few shops along the way. And since Josh and I aren't big drinkers, we were excited when we came across a soda saloon.

As the busyness of the daytime events died down, the night life was just starting. With the street full of bars and casinos, we used that as our sign to start heading home, which was a beautiful scenic drive.