Prairie Homestead, Badlands National Park

For a glimpse as to what homestead life was like in southwestern South Dakota during the early 1900s, visit the Prairie Homestead. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Prairie Homestead is one of the few remaining visuals of the homestead era.

The Prairie Homestead is a sod dugout cabin that was built by Mr. and Mrs. Ed Brown in 1909. The Browns used native cottonwood trees for beams, and plowed buffalo grass sod for the upper walls of their home. The sod construction kept their home cool in the summer and warm in the winter. A cave and chicken house were also dug into the bank next to the house. The cave served a refrigerator in the summer, and kept food from freezing in the winter.

Most of the original structure is in place today, including the beams and log front. Some of the sod around the window area had to be replaced, but was replaced by sod from the same field the Browns harvested their sod. Not only is it remarkable that much of the original sod is still intact, but that the house even exists at all. Most of the other homes built during the same era have since been washed away in the rains and have returned to the earth.

The Prairie Homestead is preserved to resemble what it would look like if a family was actually living there. Although only a few of the original furniture pieces remain, all of the decor is typical of the homestead and sodbuster era. You'll walk into their humble kitchen and bedrooms with an iron kettle on the stove, and simple curtains on the windows. Living conditions back then were similar to the living conditions of eastern America 200 years earlier. Although primitive, the homesteaders worked hard to make their dreams come true.

To get to Homestead Prairie, take Exit 131 off Interstate 90, the entrance to Badlands National Park. Homestead Prairie is located 2 miles south on Highway 240. Entrance fees are $5.00 for adults, $4.00 for children ages 11 through 17, and free for children under 11 when accompanied by a parent.