Tonelli's Travels

After leaving Spearfish, SD, we headed towards Custer State Park. On our way, we made a few stops to check out the local scenes. First we visited Hill City and then went to Crazy Horse Memorial.

Hill City is a small town nestled in between rolling hills with a scenic railroad, long bike path, and bustling downtown area. We wandered in and out of a few shops, stopped at the post office, and tried to get ice cream but it was closed. Sigh. There were interesting metal sculptures in front of stores. It was a nice break on our drive and I’m glad we stopped.

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Since it was still early in the day, we drove over to Crazy Horse Memorial. This work of art has been in progress since 1948 as a way to honor and commemorate Crazy Horse, a Native America leader, and all indigenous people and cultures. Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski began the project after being recruited by Henry Standing Bear. The memorial is an independent project, fully financed by donations and the ticket sales to the site.

As you drive up the long road, you can clearly see the head of the sculpture from miles away. It is tremendous. The closer you get, the larger you recognize this memorial is designed to be. When it is finished, it will be a fantastic feat.

The sculpture is not meant to be an exact image of Crazy Horse, but instead capture his spirit and motivation to protect his people, the Lakota. In fact, I learned that a photograph was never actually taken of the leader.

At the memorial, there are several buildings that make up a museum dedicated to the preservation of native histories and cultures. While Crazy Horse was part of the Lakota tribe, many various tribes are represented through stories, artifacts, and pieces of art throughout the rooms. There are dolls, traditional clothing, weapons, jewelry, cooking ware, photographs, journal entries, letters, and more.

Like so many other indigenous leaders, Crazy Horse only began actively fighting back after seeing treaties with other tribes broken (he refused to ever sign one) and his people being forcibly removed from their land. He fought fiercely, and surrendered peacefully when promised a fair peace agreement, but was attacked in jail and died. His efforts were never forgotten and helped his people remain free for a little longer.

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We appreciated the learning provided by the museum for a few hours and admired the work in progress out on the stone mountain. I look forward to seeing the finished product one day.