An underrated national park and other attractions pay homage to Teddy Roosevelt. A new presidential center celebrating his legacy is set to open in July, 2026.
It may be just a tiny dot on the map in this largely rural state, but Medora looms big for vacationers scouting out frontier flair in North Dakota. Its most famous attraction—the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park—is named after the guy who more or less put the scrappy cow town on the national map in the latter part of the 19th century.
Travel smarter, plan better – Get top destinations, itineraries, and industry trends by subscribing to Leisure Group Travel now.
Medora counts a mere 125 permanent residents, a number that increases to 500 during the summer season. Add 3,000 to 5,000 daily visitors to that, and for three or four months you’ve got a thriving tourist mecca brimming with Western swagger and reminders of Teddy Roosevelt.
Theodore Roosevelt lived the life of a cowboy in the Dakota Badlands. (Photo credit: Library of Congress)
Before he became the nation’s 26th president, TR spent time in Medora relishing the great outdoors while establishing two cattle ranches. Here in the rugged Dakota Badlands, the well-to-do New Yorker found inner strength and renewal.
The healing power of nature got him through the darkest moment of his life—a day in 1884 when his mother and first wife died in the same house within hours of each other. Grieving from the unexpected losses, he wrote in his diary, “The light has gone out of my life.”
It was in the Dakota Territory’s Little River Missouri Valley where Roosevelt, famed for his conservation initiatives as president, developed his leadership skills and love for the West’s natural resources and wide-open spaces. Embracing what he called the “strenuous life,” TR reveled in rounding up cattle, hunting for wild game and other physical pursuits. The author of several books, he found the solitude conducive to reading and writing.
A son of privilege, the Easterner first came to the Badlands in 1883 to hunt bison and invested in a cattle operation, returning a year later to lose himself in the vastness after experiencing personal tragedy. He visited North Dakota time and again for the rest of his life.
The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is under construction, with opening day set for July 4, 2-2026. (Rendering credit: Snohetta/Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation)
New Medora Attraction Will Honor Roosevelt’s Legacy
TR’s legacy as a national leader and ties to North Dakota will be chronicled at the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, a museum and research center set to open on July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of American independence. Ground was broken in 2023.
Looking back at his life, Roosevelt remarked, “I would not have been president if it were not for my experiences in North Dakota.”
The privately funded cultural institution, overlooking the national park bearing Roosevelt’s name, takes pride in its sustainability efforts, in keeping with the philosophy of the man known as the “conservationist president.” Features will include a green roof with solar panels and strict guidelines regarding carbon emissions, energy consumption, water and waste.
The library’s two buildings, constructed mainly of wood, will share a roof and blend harmoniously into land that once belonged to the U.S. Forest Service. There will be a 1.3-mile walking trail, and the site’s ecosystem will be restored with native plants, mammals and birds.
As president from 1901-1909, Roosevelt established the forest service and signed the 1906 Antiquities Act, under which he proclaimed 18 national monuments. He worked with Congress to create five national parks, 150 national forests and dozens of federal reserves.
Besides exhibits illustrating TR’s achievements and how they continue to shape today’s world, the facility will have a 300-seat auditorium, a cafe and ambitious programming that will attracts scholars, politicians and business leaders from across the country.
The Medora Musical, held in an outdoor theater, is a summertime staple in Medora, North Dakota. (Randy Mink Photo)
Medora Musical Sizzles with the Spirit of Teddy Roosevelt
The new Roosevelt shrine will be located on the same road as the 2,800-seat amphitheater that hosts the Medora Musical, a summertime variety show built around the life of Teddy Roosevelt, the nation’s first celebrity president. A rousing, patriotic, humor-filled production featuring live horses, a cast of young cowboys and cowgirls, and an actor playing TR himself, it concludes with fireworks and a flag-carrying horseback rider dramatically positioned on a bluff beyond the stage.
Joe Wiegand, who reprises Teddy Roosevelt in appearances around the country as well as in Medora, captures TR’s outsized personality through recitations about living courageously, overcoming obstacles and never giving up. Songs in the 2024 show included classics “America the Beautiful” and “Amazing Grace,” pop tunes like “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “Nine to Five,” and the finale, “God Bless America.” There was even a Beatles medley.
Joe Wiegand, as Teddy Roosevelt, leads a hike for tourists in Medora. (Randy Mink Photo)
Before the performance, steps from the theater, my group feasted at Pitchfork Steak Fondue, a Western-style cookout where 12-ounce steaks are loaded onto giant pitchforks, deep-fried in oil and served with all the fixin’s, including baked potatoes, baked beans, garlic toast, coleslaw and mixed fruit, with brownies and mini-donuts for dessert.
One morning I joined a group hike led by Wiegand. Still in character and dressed for the part, he uncannily portrayed TR right down to the iconic wire-rim spectacles, bold mannerisms and lust for life. It was like seeing the real TR right before our eyes. At one point during the hike, he scrambled up a rock balanced on a sheer cliff in the hills above Medora, addressing us from his “bully’s pulpit” (and making me nervous). Roosevelt had referred to the White House as his “bully’s pulpit,” a national platform he used to make his voice heard.
Wiegand also reprises Roosevelt in The Teddy Roosevelt Show at Medora’s Town Square Showhall. Brunch and dinner performances are held on select summer dates.
Members of our hiking group included a family from Wisconsin and a bachlorette party from New York. We saw native flora like prickly pear cactus, yucca and prairie rose, the state flower, but no mule deer, though later we did encounter some in town.
Trail rides explore the rugged landscapes surrounding Medora. (Photo credit: North Dakota Tourism)
Medora Riding Stables offers one- and two-hour trail rides, another way to explore the local environs. There’s a chance your steed may have appeared in the Medora Musical the night before.
Other Things to See and Do in Medora, North Dakota
Just outside of town lies Chateau de Mores State Historic Site, centered on a 26-room hunting lodge built in 1883 by the Marquis de Mores, an entrepreneurial French nobleman who came to the Badlands to set up a beef cattle empire. He constructed a slaughterhouse in town with plans to ship the meat in refrigerated railcars across the country, a venture that failed.
Guests of the marquis were taken on safari-style hunting expeditions and enjoyed fine wines with dinner at this oasis of civilization staffed by 10-15 servants.
Rooms in the “chateau,” as his neighbors called it, are almost unchanged since the 1880s, and most of the artifacts on display are original to the house. A nearby interpretive center contains more of the marquis’s possessions, including his riding boots, saddle, rifles and pistols.
The home’s front porch overlooks the town, affording views of the slaughterhouse ruins. As Medora’s founder, the aristocrat named the town after his wife, Medora von Hoffman, the daughter of a wealthy New York banker.
North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame is about all things Western. (Photo credit: North Dakota Tourism)
The North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, another Medora crowdpleaser, is a treasure house of art and artifacts celebrating ranch life, rodeo champions and Native American lore. The exquisite collection of Western art includes original bronze sculptures by Frederic Remington. Two movies are shown in the theater.
Touring North Dakota’s National Park
The visitor center at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, within walking distance of town, shows a 17-minute orientation film. Of special interest in the small museum is the bullet-scarred shirt that Roosevelt was wearing when shot by an assassin during a 1912 campaign stop in Milwaukee. Behind the visitor center is Roosevelt’s Maltese Cross Cabin, which was moved from his ranch and restored.
Established in 1947, this is the only national park named after a person.
From overlooks at pullouts along the park’s 36-mile scenic loop drive, motorists enjoy sweeping views of vast horizons stretching over the northern Great Plains. Close to the roadsides they likely will see some of the 500 bison and 200 feral horses that inhabit the rolling prairies. And everyone likes watching the little critters scurry from hole to hole in the grasslands’ prairie dog towns.
The loop offers a dozen hiking trails, one of which leads to a cliff that offers dramatic vistas of Wind River Canyon and the Little Missouri River. Happily, this unspoiled North Dakota kingdom is much less crowded than Yellowstone and other super-popular national parks that get overrun every summer and fall.
Travel smarter, plan better – Get top destinations, itineraries, and industry trends by subscribing to Leisure Group Travel now.
By Randy Mink, Senior Editor
Lead Photo – Some 500 bison inhabit the rolling prairies of North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park. (Photo credit: North Dakota Tourism)
