One of the more interesting aspects of our travels has been the towns that we visit along the way. I am particularly fascinated by some of the smallest of them. The first one that was especially worthy of note that we visited in our SD experience has to have been Interior.  This was the first town to be established in the area and remains the only one in the Bad Lands. It has grown and shrunk over the years but even with the population of only 42 people, they continue to maintain their pride in the community. Today the town is mostly occupied by retired ranch folks and a few employees of the National Park Service. There is only one store and no gasoline stations but it does still have a US Postal Office. The community is also home to two active church congregations and is the nearest community to the visitor center for the Badlands National Park. We found the folks to be very friendly and welcoming but the only food other than some groceries was the microwave sandwich bar in the little store there. The town sign tells the story of the community very briefly and list a number of the most famous of cowboys who have performed in rodeos there. They still hold those rodeos but don't get much coverage and Wide World of Sports seems to show little interest!

The town is only about a mile from the south entrance/exit of the Badlands NP and doesn't take a lot of time to see buy if you don't visit, you have missed one of the more unique places in the state.

The next place that we visited which is in the small town category would have to be Keystone, just down the road from Mt. Rushmore. This is a tourist town of the first order with fewer than 500 year around residents and a booming population and business district in the summer season. We were told that most of main street is closed up by Thanksgiving and not much happens then until the following May. 

Near Angostura park are two small towns that we seem to hear a great deal about even though they are both small towns and so we felt that we must explore them both. Our first stop was at Buffalo Gap, a town that is only 7 miles from Hot Springs. We drove over and first noted that the pavement stops about two miles before you get to the city limit. One of the first things that one might notice upon entering the town is that nearly everyone waves in greeting as you pass by. Children on bicycles, seniors in golf carts and even an occasional automobile move about the town, giving a cherry wave to the visitors with Texas license plates. What appears to have been the local bank building is now the city hall and the former school is now HQ for a horse preserve. There is a small park and there do seem to still be families about as well as a few farm/ranch related businesses. There are a few fairly new homes but from all that we could see the community is mostly one of commuters for employment. There are perhaps as many as 50 homes and there is a community center which has been advertising a dance for the next week which we are planning to visit just to meet more of the people who live there.

Our final stop for this tour is the town of Edgemont, which is some 25 miles to the south of Hot Springs and nearly to the Nebraska border. Edgemont is a railroad town and the Burlington Northern is the key to their existance and health today. The community still contains quite a few small businesses and there is also both a post office and a bank. They have a free museum which the citizens are justly proud of and volunteers greet each visitor and even give you a mini tour to get you started and also answer any  questions that you may have about the community or it's history. Although the museum is small it has some wonderful things preserved there and the docents can tell you much of the history of most of the things they have on display. If you should choose to travel US highway 18 on your trip to the Black Hills you should take time to spend a few hours in Edgemont.