The 3 Best Historic Attractions in Yankton South Dakota
Historical places let us be voyeurs into the past. They give us the chance to time travel and pull back the curtain on a different age.
Historic trips often involve exploring new places, uncovering hidden gems, and learning about the past. There is a sense of discovery and adventure that comes with visiting historical sites, museums, and landmarks. It's exciting to delve into the stories and events that shaped the places we explore today.
Historic adventures provide an opportunity to immerse yourself in different cultures and time periods. By visiting historical sites, you can gain insights into the customs, traditions, and ways of life of people who lived in the past. It's a chance to appreciate the diversity and richness of human history.
Here are 3 must visit spots that will give you a look into history!
1 :: The Mead Museum Building was originally used as patient housing for women at the Dakota Hospital for the Insane until the 1980s. At this time it sat empty until 2012, when renovations began and reopened in 2018, with a renaming for the Mead Museum in 2022.
The interior lobby has a gorgeous marble staircase, mosaic tile flooring, and stencil ceiling details.
The children's exhibit is to the left, with interactive exhibits for children to engage with! If you stand in the boat, you will hear water sloshing around you as if you are at sea!
Two of my favorite exhibits included the Liberating Women exhibit and the State Hospital exhibit - both of these were a fantastic and interesting look at history. Don't forget to stop in the gift shop and pick up some local honey!
2 :: The NFAA Easton Yankton Archery Center is home to the National Field Archery Association (NFAA) National Headquarters and the largest archery center in the world. The facility includes a museum, archery ranges, an air rifle system, and tennis and pickleball courts.
Located inside the main office is the Archery Museum featuring over 175 bows, arrows, patches, articles, and other archery artifacts. We loved viewing the vintage archery magazines and ads!
Take some photos in front of the mural or bring your archery equipment for some fun target practice at the range!
3 :: The Meridian Bridge is notable as the first permanent river crossing in the Yankton vicinity and as one of the final links in the Meridian Highway, an early north-south route from Winnipeg, Canada, to Mexico City, Mexico. The bridge is a double-decker, with the upper portion being a toll bridge and the bottom intended for rail travel, but that portion never came to fruition.
Today, you are able to take a stroll across both the top and bottom portions of the bridge connecting South Dakota and Nebraska! Bring a padlock, write in permanent marker the name or initials of the person you love, lock the padlock onto the bridge and toss the key into the river!
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