On Day 2 we set out to do some touring in South Dakota before actually hitting the road. First up was Historic Deadwood. I had no idea this was even a place.
The original reason we stopped in Deadwood is because my great-great-uncle (I think I got that right?) is rumored to have started the Catholic church in the town back in the early 1900s.
The church is right on the main street (there aren't many other streets) and it's going through a bit of a facelift on the outside. The doors were locked to the inside. Apparently the church isn't always open.
St. Ambrose church had been founded in 1877. Date wise, that didn't quite fit with what we had heard. That, and the name of the original pastor was not the name of my great-great-uncle.
After a bit of digging (and by that, I mean googling it on my phone) we discovered that my great-great-uncle was most likely the priest that was pastor when this particular building was built in 1936.
Through my thorough roadside research, I also learned that he lived right here in this little house next door, which is still the current priest's residence (although he was not home...my parents checked).
Visiting Deadwood was a little odd, because we went from the Catholic church to a block down the street into the wild west and visited locations for brothels and where people were assassinated. It transitioned quickly.
This town was fantastic. They do little shows and shoot-outs throughout the day. We didn't see any because we had a schedule to keep. We walked the streets and checked it all out.
We saw the original location of Saloon no. 10 where Wild Bill was shot and killed.
And then down the street where his assassin was caught.
We saw the ladies of the streets who were strutting their stuff in the windows of the brothels. Nothing creepy about those mannequins.
We really had to hit the road though, because we had barely even started our 8 hours of driving, and we were still going to go find Devil's Tower when we hit Wyoming...and it's only day two...!
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