The Smithsonian on the Prairie

One warm Saturday I slipped away from my busywork to do something with real value: visit the North Dakota Heritage Center.

My visits to the Heritage Center are bittersweet. I got to work there for eight years, with the opportunity to explore the exhibits daily — there was always more to see — and I regret not spending more of my time there wandering, instead of working when I should have been taking a lunch break.

This was a quiet weekend — people were out enjoying the unusually warm weather — so it was a perfect day for me to wander through the newest exhibit, On the Edge of the Wind: Native Storytellers and the Land, in a quiet, almost reverent, atmosphere.

The exhibit features the oral narratives of Native American storytellers from around the Dakotas, accompanied by artwork and beautiful artifacts from the museum’s collections, all surrounded by stunning photography of the land.

As usual, I spent most of my time in the Adaptation Gallery. It tells the geological story of North Dakota from the time of the dinosaurs to the appearance of humans. 

I skimmed past the life-sized casts of a T. rex and a Triceratops engaged in battle to spend time in wonder wandering through my favorite: the underwater world, featuring a 24-foot-long marine lizard, a 16-foot-long fish, and a 12-foot-long turtle.

Amazing. But my time was running short.

Though I had little time in the Early Peoples Gallery with the huge diorama of the earth lodge village (I remember checking on the artist’s progress almost daily when it was being created), I listened once again to the recording of my “uncle” Edwin talking in his native tongue. He was the last native speaker of the Mandan language.

I had even less time in the Inspiration Gallery which showcases the era of homesteading on the prairie, the growth of farming, and the part North Dakota played in protecting our country during the Cold War.

There are so many little exhibits tucked into the nooks and crannies between the main galleries and, of course, there’s the amazing Dakota the Dinomummy — the famous fossil of the duck-billed dinosaur found on a North Dakota ranch — standing proud to greet visitors in the main lobby.

Another amazing thing about the Heritage Center? It’s all free! There’s an inconspicuous little box for donations by the door, but it’s easy to miss and no one points it out. The Heritage Center is a gift from the State of North Dakota to its citizens and from generous donors who want to share our state's rich heritage with others.

When cruise industry tycoon A. Kirk Lanterman first experienced the Heritage Center, he called it “the Smithsonian on the Prairie.” Think he was exaggerating? Come and see!