Connect with Indigenous culture with these S.D. travel destinations

This paid piece is sponsored by Travel South Dakota.

Nine Indigenous tribes call South Dakota home, and any visit to the state should include learning about their rich heritage.

Think art, culture, food and history.

And while South Dakota is vast, wherever you travel, there’s an opportunity to experience some of the Native culture that makes the state special.

Explore them all through the Tribal Nations digital passport from Travel South Dakota, connecting you with art, tours, performances and more designed to celebrate and honor Indigenous culture. Plus, your travel adds up to winning prizes. Click here to connect.

Here are a few memorable experiences waiting statewide.

Native West Trading Co.

Interior

Any trip to South Dakota has to include a visit to the Badlands, the otherworldly formations in the southwestern part of the state. At the southern entrance to the Badlands is the town of Interior, and that’s where you can find Native West Trading Co.

Jennifer Reisser, owner, said the business began about 24 years ago and moved to its current site in 2013.

“This is a good route for people traveling through Rosebud and Pine Ridge or who are going to Rapid City,” Reisser said. “People stop here on their way, and we also cater to the tourists at Badlands National Park.”

Reisser, an artist, said Native West offers not only a market for artists to sell their work but also helps others learn about Native art and culture.

“We sell traditional art, such as beadwork and quillwork, fine art and a lot of crafts,” Reisser said. The store has works from tribes across the country, but mostly features local artists.  She also helps others evaluate their collections of Native art and can direct them to appraisers. “It’s really fun, and we get to see a lot of beautiful art.”

Native West also sells saddles and does repairs and restoration work, she said.

Its online business includes sage and botanicals. Reisser said they harvest about a thousand pounds of sage in the summer and ship it.

“We feel good about being able to bring sage to people who might not be able to access it,” Reisser said. “People are looking for healing, and sage is a huge part of that.”

The variety of the products offered is part of the attraction of Native West, but there’s also the location.

“The Badlands are a pretty magical place, and we are the only store in about a 100-mile radius,” Reisser said. “We have a huge variety of different handmade items that are locally based. People say it’s like visiting a museum here, with so much to learn about.”

For visitors who want deeper knowledge of the region, the store helps connect them with the Pine Ridge Area Chamber of Commerce to visit Wounded Knee or other areas, including tours of the reservations through the tribes.

“It’s a great place to stop. We are only 2 miles from the Badlands visitor center,” Reisser said. “A lot of people who come don’t realize there is still a huge culture that is alive and flourishing. We have so much to offer out here in Indian country.”

Sica Hollow State Park

Sisseton

Sica (she-cha) Hollow State Park is one of South Dakota’s special treasures, park supervisor Shawn Hendricks said.

He said the biodiversity as well as the hydrological features of the park make it unique and beautiful, noting that the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and other Native  tribes consider it a place of lure and mystery.

“The origins of the landscape go back to termination of the last glacial period, some 10,000 years ago, when the receding glacier melted, forming a large inland lake called Lake Agassiz,” Hendricks said.

“When Lake Agassiz finally broke free from the moraine that was holding it, the ancient River Warren was created, which formed the Minnesota River Valley and South Dakota’s majestic Coteau des Prairies.”

That topography makes it a trails destination  park, he said. The park offers biking, hiking, birdwatching, horseback riding and snowshoeing. There are 12 miles of trails in the park. The park also offers camping.

“Visitors can experience mature hardwood forest, native prairie grasslands, natural springs and picturesque streams,” Hendricks said of the park. “Whether you are taking it in via horseback, mountain bike or foot, you will experience a unique experience that will last a lifetime.”

He said a can’t-miss is the Trail of the Spirits, a self-guided interpretive walking trail that goes through springs and a bog area. It was designated as a National Recreation Trail in 1971.

“Along the way, you can also learn about the local mythology and rich culture surrounding the area,” Hendricks said.

With so much to do, he recommends camping at the park.

“From there, you can access the trails, base-camp with the provided corals for your horses or just enjoy a campfire while taking in the breathtaking night sky,” he said.

Sinte Gleska University

Mission

When Keli Brings Three White Horses talks about the Sinte Gleska University Sicangu Heritage Center gallery, you can feel the reverence in her words.

She describes it as a “small but beautiful” gallery full of artifacts from various time periods.

“The goal of our exhibit is to share what our community heritage and cultural ideals are, what our kinship system is based on and how it flows throughout our lives,” Brings Three White Horses said. She said the value system is based on WoLakota, which means ‘to be a good relative.’

The heritage center is home to a museum, archives and a small research library, including the Lakota Archives and Historical Research Center, and serves as the official repository for Sinte Gleska University and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Brings Three White Horses said.

“We work together to provide a central resource for research, heritage and cultural preservation,” she said. The site also houses the Great Plains Art Institute, the SGU Media Archives and the SGU Library.

Right now, the art institute, with the Sicangu Heritage Center, is showing “Rosebud Sioux, a Lakota People in Transition,” by Claes Jacobson. The exhibit runs through Dec. 18.

The center is on the Antelope Lake campus in Mission and offers a variety of tour experiences. The center is open year-round from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and by appointment.

The Heritage Center at Mahpiya Luta

Pine Ridge

Located in Pine Ridge in southwestern South Dakota, the Heritage Center began in 1969 as the Red Cloud Indian Art Show.

Since then, it has grown to include a gift shop featuring the art of more than 300 Native artists. But beyond that, there’s a renowned Native art collection with nearly 13,000 pieces, a gallery hosting a few exhibits each year, the annual arts show and more.

The gift shop features contemporary and traditional art.

Every summer, the Heritage Center hosts the Red Cloud Indian Art show for 10 weeks, and all the artwork is for sale. The proceeds benefit the individual artists and the  center.

The Heritage Center is open for tours year-round, which include a walk around the campus to learn the history of the Lakota people, arts and culture, as well as the history of the school and campus.

Click here to learn more.

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