Deadwood Days

We arrived in Deadwood, South Dakota yesterday and spent most of the day on housekeeping chores, grocery shopping, cleaning, vacuuming, and laundry.  Lucky for me it was too late for a bath when all the chores were done.  Jim was planning to barbecue some steaks but it started thundering, lightning, and raining.  Just enough to spoil that plan.  They had pasta for dinner, yuck!

There is a free trolley from our campground into Deadwood which helped to orient us and plan our visit into to town today.

Gambling returned to Deadwood in 1998 and the casinos are every where.  That's been a source of income to spruce up the town, and many buildings have been restored to their original condition. Deadwood's streets are filled with reminders of it's past as a gold-rush boom town. And there are lots of tourists!

The first thing Jim and Kathe wanted to see today was the Mt. Moriah Cemetery (Boot Hill) where Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok are buried.  No dogs allowed!  They took a bus tour and learned about the local history and Deadwood's legendary characters.  This is a picture of Wild Bill's grave site.

They visited the Adams Museum which has a great collection of photographs and exhibits that tell the story of the glory of days of Deadwood.  In addition to Wild Bill's guns, they had a beautiful collection  of Lakota bead work on display.

Next, was a tour of the perfectly restored Adams House.  This Queen Anne style Victorian mansion was built in 1892 by a local business leader, W, E. Adams.  Upon his death in 1936, his wife closed up the house and never lived in it again.  The beautiful home is filled with original artifacts that reflect the upper class lifestyle at the turn of the 20th century.  They even had an electric stove and refrigerator.

Tonight Kathe and Jim are going out to try their luck at the casinos.