Cottonwood Campground, a COE campground at the foot of Gavins Point Dam between Lewis & Clark Lake and Yankton Lake just a few miles from the town of Yankton in southeastern South Dakota is our home for three nights. It’s just across the Missouri River from Calumet Bluff and the approximate location of the Louis & Clark Corps of Discovery campsite in August 1804, the location where they met the Yankton Sioux, members of the Dakota/Nakota tradition. Our excursion today was to the Mead Cultural Education Center, the home of the Dakota Territorial Museum. We were immediately entranced with the receptionist/docent as well as the fabulous historic Mead Building, which served as the Women’s Quarters for the the first mental health care facility in the Dakota Territory. We started our visit on the first floor first with a great introductory video narrated by Yankton native, Tom Brokaw before heading into the gallery Journeying Forward: Connecting Cultures. Originally built to be a traveling exhibit to celebrate the Louis & Clark Bicentennial, this amazing overview of their entire journey is now a permanent part of the Mead, and well worth the visit. By the time we had thoroughly immersed ourselves in all things Lewis & Clark we had just enough energy to do a quick walk through the remaining exhibits on the first and second floors. It might be well worth a return visit to this area!
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