The Adams Museum, Deadwood, SD

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Welcome to the Adams Museum
Welcome to the Adams Museum

We intended to look at the Adams house and do the tour as we only had about an hour and a half to spend in Deadwood. The wonderful lady in the ticket office told us that the tour had left about 15 minutes before, too far ahead for us to join them, and a fairly good wait for the next. She suggested that we venture over to the museum just a few blocks away as they were by donation and had a great kids area in the basement. With six kids under 12 in tow, we were pretty thankful for the advice.

The museum is full of great pioneer history, from the development of Deadwood to the Indian nations that were there before and during the early years. It also had a visual history of the Chinese immigrants that we don’t even necessarily think about as being part of the old west. They worked in the mines and in laundries, they had clothing and even a dragon!

My son was fascinated by the narrow gauge steam engine, one of the first used in the Black Hills. He called it “Gabe sized”. My daughters talked for days about the two-headed calf. My oldest son thought the fossil in the basement was probably the best part. Here are some pictures from the museum. You can find out more about the history of Deadwood by clicking here. Ā There was so much to see there, I will probably do more posts, just on the museum.

Gabe's favorite part of the Museum.
Gabe’s favorite part of the Museum.Ā 
Deadwood has a long and colorful history.
Deadwood has a long and colorful history.
Some bead work and a spoon carved from bone. Found at a local Dakota Indian site.
Some bead work and a spoon carved from bone. Found at a local Dakota Indian site.
Some of the Chinese traditional clothing worn by the immigrants. They also showed some of the shoes, which were incredibly tiny even in comparison to other pioneer shoes, which were much smaller than our feet now.
Some of the Chinese traditional clothing worn by the immigrants. They also showed some of the shoes, which were incredibly tiny even in comparison to other pioneer shoes, which were much smaller than our feet now.
Entertainment was a big business in Deadwood. The other side of the door is flat, this was the "pretty" side, facing out. She would have been locked in, with that swinging piece of wood on top so people could look in and watch if they wished.
Ā  Entertainment was a big business in Deadwood. The other side of the door is flat, this was the “pretty” side, facing out. She would have been locked in, with that swinging piece of wood on top so people could look in and watch if they wished.

0 Comments

    1. I looked through my pictures and didn’t see him as one of them. I’m not sure if they have anything on him or not. With only an 1.5 hours to run through the museum, I may have missed his story. After a quick google search, he was certainly a colorful character. šŸ™‚

    2. He was indeed. The show Deadwood, which ran on HBO for 3 seasons, did a fantastic job of showing the lifestyle back then. It’s a bit violent for some people, but I consider it the finest writing in TV history.

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