Visiting The Von Hoffman House In Medora, North Dakota

This is a continuation of a travel series to The Great West.  To start at the beginning, go HERE, HERE, and 

HERE, HERE, HERE,, HERE, HERE HERE,  HERE, HERE, and HERE

While visiting the sweet little town of Medora, North Dakota I was able to tour two historic homes:  The Von Hoffman House and the Chateau De Mores.  This week I will cover the Von Hoffman House and next week I will show the Chateau.

The Von Hoffman House is located right in the center of town across from the Medora Children's Park on Broadway and 5th.  It was built in 1884 by Peter Brock who owned a brick factory.  The style of the house is "common-bond brick".  I never knew there was such a thing.  Peter also built the Catholic Church:  both the house and church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

The home was built for the town's founder, Marquis de Mores's in-laws:  Louis and Athenais Von Hoffman.  I guess the Marquis didn't want the in-laws staying in his own house when they visited so he built them their own home.  😀.  JK,  actually it was the Marquis wife who had the home built for her parents as well as the Catholic Church.

The house was only occupied one summer in 1885 and then never used by the Van Hoffman's again.

In 1890 James Foley moved in after a fire destroyed his home.  The wife of the Marquis, Medora de Mores, transferred ownership of the home to the Foleys in 1914.  Three generations of the Foley family lived in the home and they were servants to the de Mores family.

In 1969 the house was sold to the Harold Schafer Gold Seal Company and turned into a Doll Museum.  Schafer then gave the house to the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation in 1986.  The house was restored in 2012.  Furniture was donated from Foley Family descendant Jim Davis.

The home features some of the original furnishings and also furniture from the time period.  In addition, correspondence from Theodore Roosevelt to his friend Joe Ferris and his family is also displayed in this home.  If you're wondering who Joe Ferris is, you might want to take a look at last week's post where I walked through the town of Medora and showed the highlights like the "Joe Ferris Grocery Store".

The tour of the home is self guided but there is also someone always on the property to answer any questions you may have.

I love old homes, so snooping around one all by myself was a real treat.  There are signs up throughout the home explaining how what rooms and objects were and what they were used for.

I just loved this old stove in the kitchen!

The dining room was so pretty!

I only took one picture of the upstairs.  I don't remember why.  

The Von Hoffman House is free to the public but there is a donation box located by the door.  They are open every day 12-5 during the tourist season.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

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The Sweetest Little Town In The West: Medora, North Dakota

This is a continuation of a travel series to The Great West.  To start at the beginning, go HERE,, HERE, and 

HERE, HERE, HERE,, HERE, HERE HERE,  HERE, and HERE!

One of the joys of road trips is discovering small towns you would miss if you simply flew to your destination.  In all our years of travel, we have come across many lovely small towns, but none has touched my heart as much as Medora, North Dakota has.  

Medora is located right next to Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  In fact, you could walk right into the park from Medora.  This town has so much rich history that I will uncover in the next three weeks, but I don't think it would exist today if it were not for Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  Only 112 people live in Medora year round.  During the tourist season, the population increases only to serve the needs of the tourists who arrive to visit the National Park.

It's a quaint, beautiful town that seems fairly untouched by modern architecture.  Yes, there are newer buildings/hotels raised up to serve the tourists, but many of the original buildings are still in-tact and used.  The beauty of Medora lies in its location as it is surrounded by the gorgeous buttes that make the park famous.   

Medora was founded in 1883 by the French Nobleman Marquis de Mores.  You will learn more about him in later posts as I visited two of his historic homes when I was in Medora.  Today's post is all about the restaurants we ate at and other sites and things there are to do in Medora.

Because Medora is so small, there are not a whole lot of restaurants to eat at.  I think we managed to visit every one except the fine dining one at the Rough Rider's Hotel.  

The first one we visited after spending the morning at the park.  It's called the "Little Missouri".  The lower half appears to be an old-fashioned saloon and the upper half offers both inside and outside dining.  It was a beautiful day so we chose to eat outside on the deck pictured below.

We had great views of the buttes and the sweet town below.

We were very pleased with the food.  Hubby got a Reuben and I got a wrap,

We also ate at "Boots" which is famous for their Bloody Mary Mix burgers.  They also offer indoor/outdoor dining.  We initially were going to eat outdoors but there were a lot of flies, so then we chose to eat indoors...but there were still a lot of flies.  We think the problem was that they had only one door which opened to the outside instead of two, which let all the flies inside.  I literally had to keep a napkin constantly covered over my food to keep the flies from landing on it.  But other than that, the burgers were fantastic!  

We were absolutely blown away by this outdoor playground which was designed to look like an old Wild West town.  If I could only say one thing about the town of Medora it would be that it is very family friendly.  It reminded me of Branson, but far smaller and less touristy of course.  Safety is so important to me when we travel.  We have been to cities where I did not feel very safe.  Here, we walked the streets after dark and never had to worry.  And there are so many family-friendly activities to do here, and more are being added in 2022 like a "lazy river and zero entry pool" and more attractions at Point to Point Park. I would love to bring my grandchildren here someday.  I think they will love it!

This is the Old Town Hall Theater where shows are held.  The most popular show is the Teddy Roosevelt Show where a Teddy Roosevelt impersonator discusses his life and his time spent in Medora,  I was unable to see that one on my first visit, but I hope to see it on a return trip.  

The theater was built in the very spot of the old town hall where Theodore Roosevelt himself visited in 1902.  There is a statue and commemorative plate outside the theater.

I know this is going to sound silly to some but one of my favorite things about Medora was that there were plenty of PUBLIC RESTROOMS!  I can't tell you how many small towns we have visited where someone had to go to the potty and every business in town has a sign up "No Public Restrooms".  Seriously, tourist towns, listen up.  If you want to attract more tourists make more public restrooms and more FREE parking.  

I thought this beautiful flower garden in front of one of their Public Restrooms was picture worthy!  And the view of the buttes with the Rough Rider Hotel in the background was stunning.

My husband is a HUGE pizza lover so he was pretty excited to see "Badlands Pizza & Saloon".

This establishment has zero flies 😁 and also offered both indoor/outdoor dining.  I really liked their set up to and I found it very efficient.  You don't sit down at a table and have a waiter wait on you.  You place your order at the counter, receive a number, then you sit down.  They bring the food to your table when it's ready.  Ordering before you sit down allows more people to be served during busy tourist times.

The indoor dining establishment is beautiful.  We were there during the off-season and late at night, so we had the whole place to ourselves!

And the pizza was fabulous!  They let us divide a small pizza in half because we both wanted different pizzas.

There were only two restaurants in town open for breakfast:  the fancy Rough Riders Hotel and the Cowboy Cafe.  We ate breakfast at this restaurant everyday.  They never opened until 7:00 am and we were always the first people standing in line waiting for them to open.  They have a very limited breakfast menu, which allows tourists like us who just want to get in and out as fast as possible so they can go to the  National Park.  We loved the ambiance of the place and thought the food was great and the service amazing. 

Unfortunately the museum was closed for the season the week we were there.  According to its website they have a " treasure trove of frontier/farm/ranch memorabilia including extensive barb wire collection, history of Billings County and restored pioneer days courtroom/jail, collection of military and western firearms."  Admission ranges from $1.00 - $3.00.

I was so excited to see a "Wind Garden".  I've never heard of a "Wind Garden" before but I found it very peaceful and beautiful and wondered where I could find one of these architectural pieces for my own garden.  The garden is located behind the Harold Schafer Heritage Center which is "part bar, part museum , part art gallery, and part indoor-outdoor spaces which features one of the best group patio settings in Medora".

This cute "Mercantile" shop intrigued me so we stopped in for a peek.   It's actually a coffee shop and we were surprised to find two of the performers from the "Medora Musical" serving coffee.  We later found out that all the cast performers are required to hold another job in the Medora community.  That seemed like it would be kinda hard to do but it was fun meeting the cast members up close.

The town of Medora is famous for its Rough Riders Hotel.   Apparently Theodore Roosevelt himself stayed here on some of his visits.  I tried to book a room here, but they were all full.  I have no idea what the cost would be to stay here, but we peeked inside the windows and both the dining room and lobby looked very luxe.  The lobby has a floor to ceiling hearth and a beautiful tin ceiling.  The walls hold the largest private library available to guests to read of books on and by Theodore Roosevelt.

The hotel is named for the calvary unit led by the 26th president.  It was originally built in 1884;  Roosevelt gave a speech from a balcony at the hotel that still exists today.

Next to the Rough Riders Hotel is a post office, bank, and church all complete with western charm.

This is the Town Square Patio and Showhall.  There are free shows held in the town square all summer long.  On the day we arrived in town we could hear someone singing gospel tunes all the way at our motel.  It sounded very lovely.  There are also food carts, picnic tables, and public restrooms in the square.  The building behind the canopies is where the "Gospel Brunch" is held.  I was unable to attend this one, but I did peek in the window.  The tables were beautifully decorated and they serve a great big brunch paired with gospel songs and stories from the same performers of the "Medora Musical".  I really hope I can attend this brunch on another trip to Medora some day.

We found this old covered wagon filled with beautiful flowers.

Across the street from the "North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame" is this "Bucking Bronco" statue.  The museum "strives to preserve the history and promote the culture of North Dakota's Native American, ranching, and rodeo communities by informing and educating people of all nations and cultures about the state's rich and colorful western heritage."

Unfortunately this was yet another place I did not have to visit when I was in Medora.  Boy...this town has a lot of things to see and do!  We were there primarily to visit the National Park, but it's almost as if we could spend a week there just to see all the shows and museums.

A little side note for you:  It was in this square, sitting on a park bench in the shade, that my daughter called and told us about the birth of our newest grandson Elisha.   I will always remember getting the news on this beautiful day in this lovely spot.

This is the Joe Ferris general store.  Joe was a friend of Theodore Roosevelt and the president lodged in a second floor room when he stayed in Medora.  The store was built in 1885.

If you notice in the picture above I am reading a sign telling the history of the store.  These signs are EVERYWHERE in Medora.  You could literally spend an afternoon just reading the signs and learning all the history of this western town.  They also have Historic Walking Tours where a paid guide takes you on a 50 minute journey through town sharing the most colorful characters of the towns past.  

The statue of the town's founder is located in front of the Harold Schafer Heritage Center.  I will share more information on Marquis De Mores in the next two weeks.

This is the Medora Depot.  The railroad reached the Little Missouri River in 1880.  This building is actually a replica of the original one as a historical marker.  There are many old photographs and more "signs" sharing how the railroad was used and influenced the town of Medora.

Across the street from the Medora Depot and Railroad Historical Marker is a "Fudge and Ice Cream Depot".  They had a lovely flower garden on the side of their building.  I did stop in for some fudge, but it was the end of the day and all they had left was white chocolate...yuch!

And finally, the Medora Firehouse.  This town even makes the local fire department look cute!

Our fall 2021 vacation was not the one we planned, but it sure turned out to be a pleasant surprise.  I never would have ended up being in Medora, North Dakota had it not been for the pandemic.  But I will say, I'm glad everything worked out the way it did because I LOVED IT THERE!  I hope I encouraged some of you to make this sweet little town a spot to visit on your travels...then again, I'm afraid of letting too many people know about this place because I don't want it to become over crowded and changed.  I loved it because it was so peaceful, beautiful, safe, and there was so much to do I couldn't even do it all in one trip!  And did I mention how much history there is to this town?  😀.  I can't wait to go back and explore more.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

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Exploring the Great West: Day Five, Part One: The Petrified Forest Trail

This is a continuation of a travel series to The Great West.  To start at the beginning, go HERE,, HERE, and 

HERE, HERE, HERE,, HERE, HERE HERE, and HERE!

On the very last day inside Theodore Roosevelt National Park, we attempted to hike the Petrified Forest Loop.   I say attempted, because we were prohibited to hike the entire loop for we were thwarted by two buffalo!  But more on that later.

Me examining a piece of petrified wood

The biggest challenge of getting to the Petrified Forest is finding it.  You actually have to drive outside the park, and then thirty minutes on private gravel roads with very little help from road signs.  GPS does not work out there, so don't plan on using that.  They do give you very explicit instructions at the Visitor's Center on how to find the Petrified Forest.  You have to follow it exactly or you will get lost.  We found it with no problems on the way there, but we did get lost coming back out with no reverse directions.

While driving to the Petrified Forest, we spotted this pretty pronghorn deer.

If you think the park is desolate, the Petrified Forest is even more so!  Most people don't want to drive on gravel roads that long to get there.  But we did see a few crazy hikers, plus a couple on horseback.

Now the Petrified Forest is a 10.4 mile loop.  There are two sections of Petrified Wood on the trail with a connecting trail inbetween.  We did plan on hiking the entire loop, but after viewing the South Petrified Forest, we came across two buffalo.  One buffalo was sitting right on the trail, and the other was standing a few feet away.  At first we planned to give them a wide berth by walking off the trail, but because there were two of them, there was really no place for us to walk by.  So we had to turn around and go back the way we came.

We still got to see the North Petrified Forest.  We just walked back to the connecting point of the trail and headed north.  It really wasn't too bad.  When we did the math, we figured we shaved off about three miles from our hike without doing the loop.

It is 1.5 miles from the parking lot to the start of the trail.  And this part is a bit steep as you are climbing to get up on top of a butte.  Once you are on top, it's very level and you are pretty much walking through a beautiful prairie land.  

It is definitely buffalo land, and you see their patties everywhere!  But because it was so open, I wasn't that nervous for I could see very far ahead of me and could easily spot a buffalo.

The prairie land is very pretty.  There are stunning buttes in the background.  We ran into another hiker on this trail and he said "Who knew North Dakota was so pretty?".  He is so right.

In the picture below I am standing at the top of the butte.  We are still not at the start of the trailhead yet.  If you look below me, in the center of the picture, you can see cars parked in the parking lot.  That will give you some idea of how far we already walked and how steep the climb is.

We got on the trail and were surprised to find spots of fall foliage in a more desert landscape.

The South Petrified Forest

There were no signs saying we arrived at the Petrified Forest, but we knew we were there when we spotted all the petrified wood.

I thought the South Petrified Forest was prettier than the North Petrified Forest because of all the wild flowers.  However, the North Petrified Forest had more petrified wood and incredible geological formations.

The South Petrified Forest was like a small sandpit surrounded by evergreens and even greener landscape in the background.  

The petrified wood can sometimes look like rocks or boulders, but a closer look reveals the wood pattern.  They are as heavy as a rock, that's for sure.  My husband picked one up that looked like a log you would throw in the fireplace.  He said "When you pick it up, you expect it to weigh what a log weighs, but it's as heavy as lifting a boulder."

I thought there were some beautiful sand colors in many of the geological formations that reminded me of the Painted Canyon.

Well, after viewing the South Petrified Forest we were about to hike the 2.5 mile connecting trail to the North Petrified Forest.

 We had to first climb up another steep hill to reach the top of another butte.

And when we reached the top, that's when we saw them.  Now what do we do.  We really didn't want to turn around.  So, we decided to keep walking toward them and give them a wide birth.  One buffalo was sitting right on the trail.  The say to keep 25 yards away from buffalo, that would mean we would have to walk 25 yards off the trail in the grass.  We decided to go for it, but I must admit, I was terrified.  And then the big buffalo stopped eating, and stopped wagging his tail, and looked up at us.  We did not like the look in his eyes, so we did an about face and went back the way we came.

I really wasn't too bummed about it.  I was prepared for this to happen eventually because in all the park reviews almost every hiker came across buffalo and couldn't complete one of their hikes.  I don't think it would have been that exciting of a hike anyway as the connector trail is basically just walking a flat prairie.  

So we decided to return to the start of the trail, and then head over to the North Petrified Forest.  I was surprised at what a short walk it was back to the start of the trail.  The longest part really was from the parking lot to the start of the trail.

The views seemed even more pretty on the return trip.  I don't know what it is, I always prefer loops than one ways on hikes, but you always seem to see things differently and/or get a different view than you did on the way there anyway.

The North Petrified Forest

If you don't want to do both trails nor hike the 10 mile loop, you can just pick Petrified Forest to view.  If petrified wood is really your thing, I would go to the North Petrified Forest as it definitely has the most petrified wood.  But I do think the South Petrified Forest is prettier.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is home to the third largest concentration of petrified wood in the nation.  These geological wonders allow hikers to travel back to a time when, instead of buttes and prairies, the landscape was dominated by massive trees and shallow swamps. 

In the photo below is an entire petrified tree that fell down and then was fossilized.

In addition to petrified wood, the North Petrified Forest has lots of other interesting geological formations.

The North Petrified Forest also offers a scenic view of the badlands.  Notice all the petrified wood stumps in the foreground and middle of the picture?  They can blend right into the landscape like boulders.  If I had little kids with me I would have played a game "Who can spot the most petrified wood" as it can be tricky!

It can be hard to get an idea of how big some of these petrified wood stumps are until you put a person in the picture.  This stump was one of the biggest ones we found.

The petrified wood is so fascinating to see up close and examine.

There is a petrified wood stump that looks like it's teetering on top of a small butte.

As we were just about at the end of exploring the North Petrified Forest hubby spotted the biggest buffalo we had seen on our trip yet.  He was quite a distance away, but because he was so large, we decided it was time to high tail it out of there!

When we got back to our car, there was still a lot of day light left, so we decided to return to our hotel and freshen up a bit, then grab some lunch and explore the town of Medora.  I will share that post in two weeks and it will complete this series.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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