Small Town Beauty in North Dakota

The town of Bottineau is known as the Four Seasons Playground. It is surrounded by rolling hills and forests. The town sits between two federal wildlife refuges with moose, deer, geese, and ducks.

In the town you’ll see Tommy the Turtle, the town mascot. At 26 feet tall, he is the world’s largest turtle.

This is the last stop heading for the Turtle Mountains.

Enjoy the J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge, Lords Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and Audubon National Wildlife Refuge.

The town of Fort Ransom has less than 100 inhabitants and was founded in the 1860s as a military post to aid new settlers.

You can visit the original homesteads at Fort Ransom State Park.

See the Viking Statue Monument.

The town of Gackle was named after George Gackle, the farmer who founded it in the early 20th century. The town sits on a lovely prairie in the southern part of the state. It is also referred to as the Duck Hunting Capital of the World. If you’re not into hunting, boating and fishing are also available. Visitors enjoy the many lakes in the area, such as Hehn-Shaffer, Arnies, and Marvin Miller, which are the most popular.

The town of Jamestown is nicknamed the Pride of the Prairie. It began with the building of the Northern Pacific Railway.

Look into the history at the Jamestown Frontier Village.

Visit the Louis L’Amour Writer’s Shack, the home of the novelist of American Westerns, who was born here in 1908.

Visit the National Buffalo Museum and see the 26-foot-tall Dakota Thunder, a monument to the buffalo. You can see many varieties of bison here, as well as the world’s only certified albino bison.

In the late 19th century, Lisbon was a boomtown for the Northern Pacific Railroad. The town has many historic homes.

See the Lisbon Opera House built in 1889.

Visit the Prairiewood Winery, one of only six in the state. It is open for wine tasting and tours.

Enjoy nature at the National Grasslands Recreation Area.

The town of Medora is located within the Theodore Roosevelt National Park with 150 residents.

Visitors can visit Chateau de Mores, a historical site that was once the summer home of the founder of the town.

Catch a show at Burning Hills Amphitheatre, an open-air venue next to the Missouri River Valley.

Take a hike in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

The town of New Salem was founded in the late 19th century. The town is home to six local parks.

See the giant Holstein cow that the local Lion’s Club built in the 1970s. She is known as Salem Sue and is a monument to hardworking dairymen in the area.

Located on the Sheyenne River, Valley City is known as the City of Bridges with eleven historical bridges.

Among the most popular are the wooden Valley City State University footbridge

and the Highline Bridge, one of the highest rail bridges in the US and a designated landmark with the National Civil Engineering system.

Visit the Medicine Wheel Park, a sacred American Indian burial ground.

Enjoy a drive along the Valley National Scenic Byway stretching over sixty miles from Lisbon to Baldhill Dam.

The town of Walhalla is the second oldest community in North Dakota, just a few miles from the Canadian border. It is known as the Heart of the Rendezvous Region.

You can visit the oldest building in the state right here, the Kittson Trading Post.

To enjoy nature and do some hiking, visit the Pembina Gorge State Recreation Area and also do some horseback riding.

Recreation along the Pembina River includes birding, mountain biking, camping, and tubing.

Enjoy the wildlife in the Tetrault Woods State Forest.