6 Of The Most Eccentric Towns In South Dakota
What do corn murals, spinning art spheres, and prehistoric swimming pools have in common? They all belong to South Dakota’s oddest small towns. Bounded by North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana, this Midwestern state stretches from wide-open plains to the rocky Black Hills. While much of its early growth came from gold mining, bison trails, and rail line stops, some towns took the road less traveled. Today, a few towns in South Dakota take pride in embracing their oddity, blending outlaw legends and Ice Age discoveries alongside roadside eccentricity as part of daily life. These are not ghost towns or empty dots on a map. These towns are historic, and very much alive. Pack up your belongings, South Dakota’s oddest towns await.
Spearfish
Not many towns can say their best art gallery is a sphere. But Spearfish is the home of the Termesphere Gallery, with hanging spinning globes painted with mind-bending optical illusions like satellites. The beautiful drive north of town winds through Spearfish Canyon, passing waterfalls, limestone cliffs, and historic bridges once used by Gold Rush stagecoaches.
For a bit of science oddity, the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery & Archives has underwater viewing windows, trout feeding tubes, and a railcar loaded with preserved fish history. When you’re finished, head downtown, catch some live music or an indie film at The Matthews Opera House & Arts Center, or relax at Common Grounds, a café made for quiet coffee and quick Instagram stories.
Deadwood
Gunfights still echo through town, but on a specific schedule. Deadwood transforms its violent past into live street performances, where actors stage 1870s shootouts. For reference, the Adams Museum has the actual death chair Wild Bill Hickok sat in during his final poker game. Further up the hill, Mount Moriah Cemetery puts you on the graves of both Hickok and Calamity Jane.
For a more peaceful lesson, visit Tatanka: Story of the Bison, where life-sized bronze sculptures of buffalo line a Lakota cultural center. You can end your day at The Midnight Star, a saloon previously owned by Kevin Costner, or risk your luck at Lil’s local casino. It feels like the 1880s, minus the whiskey poker, although there are still flashing machines.
Mitchell
This town's biggest draw is also its weirdest. The Corn Palace has been rebuilt several times since 1892, and each year it is covered in new murals made of actual corn and grain. The interior serves a dual purpose as a performance venue, with its electronic scoreboard screens suspended under onion domes. South of town at Lake Mitchell are densely wooded hiking trails, fishing piers, a public boat launch, and enough kayakable space to drift for hours.
Downtown has its own oddities. Check out vintage typewriters and Elvis records at the Mitchell Antique Mall, then notice the giant cow head that looms over the Starlite Drive-In, a still-functioning theater showing double features seasonally. If you’re fortunate to be in Mitchell in September, do not miss Dakotafest, a farm-focused festival featuring giant combines parked next to food trucks and local bands set up next to livestock tents.
Hot Springs
Some towns build pools, but Hot Springs sits in one. Lucky them, right? The naturally warm waters bubble up through Evans Plunge Mineral Springs, a historic bathhouse now turned into an indoor pool complex featuring a floor made of river stones. Only a few blocks away, the Mammoth Site contains over 60 Ice Age skeletons trapped in a prehistoric sinkhole, still being excavated by paleontologists in front of onlookers.
The oddities continue in sandstone. The downtown buildings glow pink with locally quarried stone, and the Fall River Freedom Trail runs alongside the buildings, following the river with bridges, murals, and mineral springs. If you’re an early bird, make sure you book a sunrise flight with Western Horizons Hot Air Balloons and enjoy the southern Black Hills from every direction.
Lead
Gold and physics don’t usually mix, but they do here. Visit the Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center, which features an observation deck overlooking the enormous open cut of the former Homestake Gold Mine. Inside this former bank building, the displays take you through how the mine became home to underground dark matter experiments. A short walk away, the Black Hills Mining Museum offers replica shafts and gold panning equipment from the Wild West days of the town.
When you’re ready to stretch your legs again, travel just west to the Roughlock Falls Trail. Here, wooden boardwalks follow a clear stream through pine forest to the falls, which cascade through the canyon. If visiting in early July, Gold Camp Jubilee Days is worth a visit, as locals host mining games, a quirky Main Street parade, and fireworks launched from former mine shafts. End your evening with a jalapeño ale at Dakota Shivers Brewing.
Lemmon
Lemmon was founded by ranchers and became home to a one-of-a-kind park. Located in the heart of Lemmon, the Petrified Wood Park and Museum contains spires, pyramids, and even a castle made of petrified logs and dinosaur bones. Next door, Boss Cowman Square recognizes Ed “Boss Cowman” Lemmon, a ranching local legend, with historic signs, old equipment, and shaded benches. Inside the museum, you’ll find cowboy gear, arrowheads, and more petrified wood than any town could possibly hold.
Just outside of town lies Shadehill Recreation Area, where visitors can hike, camp, and see the grave of frontier scout Hugh Glass, who survived a grizzly bear attack that inspired The Revenant. If you visit Lemmon in late July, make plans to be there for Boss Cowman Days, where locals host street dances, tractor parades, and rodeos that breathe life into the Badlands.
One State, Six Surprises
South Dakota doesn’t just embrace its weirdness; it creates entire towns around it. From mammoth digs to outlaw graveyards to corn-covered arenas and petrified parks, these towns show how far a place can stretch its own identity. Each stop blends real history with oddball twists, scientific labs in old mines, trout hatcheries in canyons, and casinos with ghost stories. None of these towns feel like tourist traps or generic pit stops. They feel authentic, grown into their oddness, and proud of it. Whether you’re passing through or breaking out of your routine, these six towns offer more stories than most maps can hold.
