Top 10 Historic Sites in North Dakota, United States

From November 1 to April 1, the site is open for BY-APPOINTMENT tours. The Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site consists of two locations, the Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility (the command site) and the November-33 Launch Facility (a missile site). Constantly manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from 1966 to 1997, the two sites stood as a vanguard of the American nuclear deterrent force throughout the Cold War. Opened for tours in 2009, the State Historical Society of North Dakota provides tours of Oscar-Zero and an insight into North Dakota's vital Cold War roles.

The Stutsman County Courthouse, built in 1883, is the oldest surviving courthouse in North Dakota and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. During the days of the Dakota Territory, meetings were held in the courthouse in preparation for statehood. The building is considered a superb but rare example in the Upper Midwest of the Gothic-Revival style of architecture. The interior is outstanding for its stamped metal ornamentation that dates to 1905. Restoration efforts have been continuous since the 1990s. In recent years, the courthouse has seen tremendous progress on the interior restoration. Visitors to the site will truly see historic preservation in action!

When the Red River Valley was the western frontier, Fort Abercrombie was the gateway to the West and the spearpoint of the army’s advance into the northern plains. The original guardhouse and the reconstructed blockhouses and stockade attest to the bloody conflict that spilled into the Dakotas from Minnesota in 1862. During this conflict Fort Abercrombie was besieged by Dakota warriors for almost six weeks. After the fort was abandoned in 1877, fort buildings were sold and removed from the site. A Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in 1939-1940 reconstructed three blockhouses and the stockade and returned the original military guardhouse to the site. Major portions of the WPA project have been refurbished and the site reinterpreted.

At Fort Mandan, the Lewis and Clark Expedition spent a winter at the urban center of the Northern Plains. The friendships they forged there, such as with Sacagawea, Chief Sheheke, and others, shaped the course of American history. Immerse yourself in their experience with a full-scale, fully-furnished replica of the fort. Fort Mandan is enhanced by a visitors center with exhibits and a kids’ play area, picnic shelters, a playground, and interpretive hiking trails in the forest along the Missouri River. Closed October 1 - April 1.

Reconstructed home of Gen. George Armstrong Custer.

Home of the Mandan Indians for over 200 years until they were virtually wiped out by smallpox.

The Grandest Fort on the Upper Missouri River Between 1828 and 1867, Fort Union was the most important fur trade post on the Upper Missouri River. Here, the Assiniboine and six other Northern Plains Indian Tribes exchanged buffalo robes and smaller furs for goods from around the world, including cloth, guns, blankets, and beads. A bastion of peaceful coexistence, the post annually traded over 25,000 buffalo robes and $100,000 in merchandise.

Visit one of the best-preserved frontier military forts in the United States. When the military left, Fort Totten became one of the largest Indian boarding schools in the nation. Explore the 17 original buildings that once rang with the jingle of cavalry harness and the shouts of playing children. Listen for the echoes of the past when you stay at the Fort Totten Inn, located in one of the original fort buildings.