Just a 45-minute drive from Rapid City, the town of Deadwood offers groups a chance to step into the Wild West. The National Historic District, home to 1,300, keeps its colorful past as a lawless gold mining town alive with numerous casinos, tours illustrating the lives of local characters such as Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane, and opportunities to pan for gold and play poker in the footsteps of the rough and ready frontiersmen of yore.
Old Style Saloon #10 is a living museum with a full bar, or possibly a historical entertainment complex. Saloon #10 was the site of Wild Bill Hickok’s murder, which is reenacted several times each day for visitors. The basement bar space can welcome as many as 700 and offers poker and blackjack tables. Upstairs, the Charlie Utter Theater is suitable for receptions of 200, and the Deadwood Social Club restaurant offers approximately 200 seats.
Groups of 40 to 60 can seek their fortune in the Black Hills at Broken Boot Gold Mine. Tours of the underground shafts give a sense of the adventure and danger faced daily by miners. Everyone will have a chance to pan for gold, but although there are nuggets still to be found, don’t let anyone quit their day job. At the very least, each visitor goes home with a souvenir "share" in the gold mine. The mine is open from mid-May through mid-September.
Black Hills Discovery Tours offers customized tours of Deadwood as well as nearby must-see attractions such as Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Badlands National Park and Devils Tower National Monument. The possibilities are endless depending on what each group prefers. The company offers two vans with space for a total of 20. Another option is to hire a step-on guide to turn any motorcoach into an instant guided tour.
One of the oldest history museums in the Black Hills, Adams Museum was founded in 1930 to enshrine many artifacts of the area’s fascinating past. Artifacts on display range from items related to Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and Deadwood’s Chinatown to Lakota bead and quill artwork to the nearly complete skeleton of a 20-foot plesiosaur. The museum can accommodate groups of up to 40 in its meeting room.
For More Info
Adams Museum
605.578.1714
www.adamsmuseumandhouse.org
Black Hills Discovery Tours
605.722.5788
www.blackhillsdiscoverytours.com
Broken Boot Gold Mine
605.578.1876
www.brokenbootgoldmine.com
Old Style Saloon #10
605.578.3346
www.saloon10.com
