Exhibit Area inside the Visitor Center at Pipestone National Monument

OPERATING HOURS

The Pipestone National Monument Visitor Center is open year-round, though hours vary per season. From March through November it is typically open daily from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. From December through February it is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, same hours. Times can always change, so before heading to the park, be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s official Operating Hours and Seasons web page for the park.

AMENITIES

• Information desk where you can ask questions and get a park brochure
• Free use of snowshoes from January until the snow melts
• Souvenir and book store
• Park film
• Exhibit area
• Demonstration area where artists carve pipestone and talk with visitors
• Restrooms

DEMONTRATION AREA

From March through November, visitors can stop at the Demonstration Area and watch and talk with artists who quarry and carve pipestone. For me, this was the highlight of a visit. The artists are happy to talk and answer questions, and I highly recommend taking advantage of this opportunity. Carved items other than pipes are on sale in the park’s gift store. Pipes cannot be sold at the park, but many artists have shops in town where their pipes are for sale.

Artist Mark Pederson of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Nation carves a pipe in the Demonstration Area of the Pipestone National Monument Visitor Center

PARK FILM

The 23-minute film Pipestone, An Unbroken Legacy plays every half hour. For 3,000 years, American Indians have coveted pipestone, a soft clay-like rock that is well-suited for carving pipes and ornamental objects. The film discusses the spiritual significance of the pipes, pipe smoking, and the actual pipestone quarry. It also covers the quarrying process. This is truly backbreaking work, all of which is done by hand with non-powered tools.

The film weaves in the story of a family—a mom and three kids—that got a quarrying permit. Most of the people who get a permit give up long before reaching the pipestone. Two feet of topsoil must be removed just to get to the quartzite that covers the pipestone, and there can be up to 20 feet of quartzite to remove. This rock is as hard as steel. I asked a park Ranger about whatever happened to the family. They also gave up before ever reaching the pipestone. I talked with Mark Pederson, one of the artists who was in the Demonstration Area when I visited, and he told me that very, very few young people have any interest in quarrying. After watching the film, I can’t imagine anyone would want to do it.

The film has no objectionable material and is suitable for all ages.

EXHIBIT AREA

Exhibit Area inside the Visitor Center at Pipestone National Monument

The Visitor Center has a small exhibit area that explores three topics. Life-Sustaining Prairie discusses the plants and animals the Indians historically used to sustain themselves while quarrying pipestone. Making Prayer discusses the spiritual significance of pipes and pipe smoking. Quarrying Stone covers the actual process of extracting the pipestone from the earth. Each exhibit has its own short film (4 to 6 minutes) that starts with the push of a button.

Exhibit and short film in the Pipestone National Monument Visitor Center on the spiritual significance of pipes and pipe smoking

Next to the Demonstration Area is a collection of pipestone slabs that have petroglyphs on them. There are also some information panels that cover the mythology of the area.

Pipestone slabs with petroglyphs on them on display at the Pipestone National Monument Visitor Center

SCHEDULING YOUR TIME

Anyone visiting Pipestone National Monument should certainly watch the park film and the three videos in the Exhibit Area, which alone will take about 45 minutes. If artists are in the Demonstration Area, take the opportunity to talk with them and watch them work. Overall, allow an hour for a stop at the Visitor Center.

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