Activities
Medora is small enough to walk end to end, and it is packed with things to do. Tour the 26-room chateau of the town's founder and the cabin where Theodore Roosevelt began his ranching life. Catch the Medora Musical under the open sky, tee off from one butte to another, or saddle up and ride into the Badlands.
Almost everything below sits within a few blocks of downtown, a short ride from the Library on the free Medora Stageline Trolley (daily, June through September). Many attractions run on a summer season, roughly Memorial Day through Labor Day, and a few stay open all year. Check each website for current hours and tickets before you go.
Start at the Library
The Permanent Exhibition
Theodore Roosevelt's life in eight chapters, from a New York City childhood to the Badlands, the White House and the Amazon. You don't watch it from behind a rope. You walk it.
The Boardwalk
Walk the land that shaped Roosevelt. Interpretive stops along the Boardwalk cover conservation, history and ecology, with the Badlands all around.
Specialty Tours
Small-group walks of 15 to 20 people, each led by a Library expert digging into a theme, a gallery or a chapter of Roosevelt's life.
Salt+Scoria
The restaurant inside the Library: wood-fired, native and seasonal.
Events Calendar
Tours, talks and special events at the Library. See what's on for the day you visit.
Museums & History
Medora was founded in 1883, the same year Theodore Roosevelt first came to the Badlands to hunt bison. Several of those early buildings still stand as museums.
Chateau de Mores State Historic Site
In 1883 the Marquis de Morès built a 26-room summer home on the bluff above the town he named for his wife, Medora. The house still holds many of the family's original furnishings, and Theodore Roosevelt was among its guests.
Down the hill, the Interpretive Center tells the story of the Marquis's cattle and meatpacking ventures and displays the original Deadwood stagecoach. The brick chimney of his packing plant, which burned in 1907, still stands in Chimney Park.
- Where: 3426 Chateau Road, on the bluff west of downtown
- Season: Chateau tours May through September; the Interpretive Center is open year-round
- Run by: State Historical Society of North Dakota
The Chateau de Mores, built in 1883, overlooks Medora from the bluff west of town.
The 26-room Chateau de Mores, summer home of the Marquis and Marquise de Morès.
Theodore Roosevelt's Maltese Cross Cabin behind the South Unit Visitor Center.
The cabin's logs are the original 1883 ponderosa pine.
A vintage view of the Maltese Cross Cabin.
The South Unit Visitor Center, Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Native plant garden at the South Unit Visitor Center.
Maltese Cross Cabin & South Unit Visitor Center
Theodore Roosevelt's first Badlands ranch house sits right behind the national park's visitor center in Medora. The cabin's logs are the original 1883 ponderosa pine, and the steep roof made room for a sleeping loft. Inside are a replica of Roosevelt's writing desk and his trunk, marked “T.R.”
The cabin has traveled. It went to the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis and the Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland before coming to the park in 1959. Next door, the visitor center has a museum of Roosevelt artifacts and shows the film Refuge of the American Spirit.
- Where: 201 East River Road N., at the entrance to the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park
- Open: Year-round; self-guided cabin visits, with ranger-led tours in summer
- Good to know: The park is cashless for entrance fees
North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame
The Hall of Honorees is the heart of this Main Street museum, which opened in 2005 to celebrate the people who shaped the western Dakotas: Native Americans, homesteaders, ranchers and rodeo hands. Upstairs, the windows frame historic Medora, the Chateau and the entrance to the national park.
- Where: 250 Main St.
- Season: Daily from Memorial Day weekend through early October, with shorter hours in May
- Good to know: Kids 17 and under get in free with an adult on Wednesdays and Sundays
The North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame on Main Street, Medora.
Exhibits cover Native Americans, homesteaders, ranching and rodeo.
The Von Hoffman House, built in 1884.
The Von Hoffman House on Broadway, Medora.
The Von Hoffman House in an early photograph.
Von Hoffman House
The parents of the Marquise de Morès, the Baron and Mrs. Von Hoffman, built this brick home in 1884. It keeps its original furniture, and an upstairs gallery displays letters between the families and their friend Theodore Roosevelt. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- Where: 485 Broadway
- Season: Summer weekends
- Cost: Free
Harold Schafer Heritage Center
Harold Schafer, often called North Dakota's most famous businessman, made his name with Mr. Bubble and is credited with saving modern Medora. This free museum traces his life, and its newest exhibit is the interactive Built on Grit: ND Business Hall of Fame.
- Where: 335 4th St.
- Season: Daily in summer
- Cost: Free
The Harold Schafer Heritage Center on 4th Street.
Harold Schafer in Medora.
The Billings County Courthouse Museum.
Billings County Courthouse Museum
Medora's old county courthouse now holds a restored pioneer-days courtroom and jail, an extensive barbed-wire collection, and military and western firearms.
- Where: 475 4th St.
- Season: Weekends, May through September
- Cost: Small admission fee
Walking Tour of Historic Medora
The State Historical Society of North Dakota offers a free audio walking tour of the town. Download the tracks to your phone and walk five stops: Chimney Park, De Mores Park, St. Mary's Church, the Von Hoffman House and the Billings County Courthouse Museum.
- Start: Chimney Park
- Open: Any time of year
- Cost: Free
Historic Medora from above, ringed by the Badlands.
The Little Missouri River valley at Medora.
Shows & Entertainment
Summer nights in Medora come with a soundtrack, from a 2,800-seat amphitheatre carved into the Badlands to a free stage on the town square.
The Burning Hills Amphitheatre, carved into the hillside in 1958.
The Medora Musical stage at night.
The Medora Musical cast.
Live music and dancing under the open sky.
More than 2,800 seats face the Badlands.
Medora Musical
Local volunteers carved the Burning Hills Amphitheatre into a Badlands hillside in 1958, and the show opened there in 1965 as Teddy Roosevelt Rides Again. Today more than 2,800 seats face an open-air stage with live music, dancing, live horses, guest variety acts and a fireworks finale.
- Where: Burning Hills Amphitheatre, Chateau Road, near the Library
- Season: Early June to mid-September
- Good to know: Kids 17 and under get in free on select nights
Old Town Hall Theater
This intimate 220-seat theater in downtown Medora keeps a busy calendar: country tribute concerts in summer, acoustic shows in the fall and Medora Musical Christmas in December. A statue of Theodore Roosevelt stands out front.
- Where: Broadway, downtown Medora
- Season: Summer through December
- Tickets: medora.com or 1-800-MEDORA-1
The Old Town Hall Theater, a 220-seat house in downtown Medora.
Rebels & Outlaws: Country Music's Best.
Medora Musical Christmas at the Old Town Hall Theater.
Holiday music at the Old Town Hall Theater.
The Teddy Roosevelt Show at the Town Square Showhall.
The Teddy Roosevelt Show with brunch or dinner.
The Medora Gospel Brunch.
Table seating inside the Town Square Showhall.
Free live music on the Town Square Patio.
The Great American Folk Show on the Town Square Patio.
Town Square Showhall & Patio
Brunch comes with a show here. The Teddy Roosevelt Show tells stories from Roosevelt's Badlands years, from his bison hunt to the boat thieves, over brunch or dinner, and the Medora Gospel Brunch fills the room with a band and a gospel quartet. Every seat in the Showhall is wheelchair accessible.
Outside, the Town Square Patio has free live music every day in summer, including The Great American Folk Show.
- Where: 3rd Ave., downtown Medora
- Season: June through September
- Cost: Showhall tickets vary; patio music is free
Outdoor & Family Fun
Ride, swing, splash and putt, with the Badlands as the backdrop.
Point to Point Park
Named for Roosevelt's point-to-point hikes, which had one rule (go over, under or through an obstacle, never around it), this park packs a lazy river pool modeled after the Little Missouri, the two-seat Manitou Zipline, the Little Bully Pulpit mini golf course and the Perception illusion house into one corner of town.
- Where: East side of downtown Medora
- Season: Full park in summer, with weekend hours into the fall
- Free: Trails, pickleball and the wooden children's park, year-round
Point to Point Park and its lazy river pool.
The pool is a lazy river modeled after the Little Missouri.
The Little Bully Pulpit mini golf course.
The Manitou Zipline.
Bully Pulpit Golf Course, south of Medora.
Bunkers, buttes and the Little Missouri River.
Juniors 17 and under play free with a paying adult.
Golden hour at Bully Pulpit.
Bully Pulpit Golf Course
Bully Pulpit winds 18 holes along the Little Missouri River just south of town, where some tee shots fly from one butte to another. USA Today 10Best readers have voted it one of the best public golf courses in the country.
- Where: 3731 Bible Camp Rd.
- Season: April through October
- Good to know: Juniors 17 and under play free with a paying adult, and a free shuttle runs from Medora lodging
Medora Riding Stables
See the Badlands the way Roosevelt did, from the saddle. Guided rides leave the stables on the eastern edge of town and head out among the buttes and canyons, with 30-minute, one-hour and two-hour options.
- Where: Pacific Ave., east edge of Medora
- Season: Daily from late May through September, with fall weekend rides
- Good to know: Riders must be at least 7 years old; arrive 30 minutes early
Trail rides leave from the Medora Riding Stables.
Guided rides follow buttes and canyons outside town.
Rides run 30 minutes, one hour or two hours.
Rides start at the stables on the eastern edge of Medora.
Part of the Medora Riding Stables herd.
West River Wagon Rides on the streets of Medora.
West River Wagon Rides
Climb aboard behind a white team of half-Percherons for a 30-minute ride around Medora while your guide tells the town's story.
- Where: 6th St., across from Point to Point Park
- Season: Summer, Wednesday through Sunday, first come, first served
- Contact: (701) 426-2015
Badlands Express Stagecoach
Brothers Eli and Isaac Waddington drive a team of Haflinger horses on a 25-minute stagecoach ride from the Chateau de Mores, along the Little Missouri River and up into the Badlands. Watch for a staged holdup. The ride nods to the stage line the Marquis de Morès ran from Medora to Deadwood in the 1880s.
- Where: Departs the Chateau de Mores; buy tickets at the Chateau
- Season: Summer, Monday through Saturday
- Contact: (701) 390-4359
The Badlands Express stagecoach.
Rides follow a dirt road by the Little Missouri River.
The Badlands Shooting Gallery in downtown Medora.
Badlands Shooting Gallery
Channel your inner Old West sharpshooter at this old-time saloon shooting gallery, right around the corner from the Old Town Hall Theater. Bring quarters.
- Where: 340 3rd St.
- Season: Daily in summer
Plan the rest of your trip
Where to Eat
From Salt+Scoria at the Library to steaks, pizza and ice cream in downtown Medora.
Where to Stay
Hotels, cabins and campgrounds in Medora, the national park and nearby Dickinson.
Shopping
Western wear, local art, books and keepsakes in downtown Medora and the Library Store.
Hiking
Trails for every pace in Theodore Roosevelt National Park and on the Maah Daah Hey.
These attractions are run by the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation, the State Historical Society of North Dakota, the National Park Service and local businesses, not by the Library. Hours, prices and seasons change, so confirm with each one before you go.