I scouted several locations for camping but ran out of daylight and made the decision to get a hotel room. Not much cell signal out in the Black Hills so had to drive to the town of Lead. While eating dinner at the Pizza Lab I checked the map further and made my way north to the town of Deadwood where on suggestion from a local I stopped by the Historic Franklin Hotel. It’s a Monday night in the off-peak tourist season so thankfully there were many vacancies and only cost $30, score!
I stayed in room 205 which is labeled for Casey Tibbs, a champion rodeo cowboy and actor. Per the hotel website it does appear some famous people have been through these parts: “Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, John Wayne, Buffalo Bill Cody, Babe Ruth and world heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan were among the hotel’s guests in its heyday.”
The rooms themselves are truly…historic. My initial thought was “if I was ever going to be murdered by ancient ghosts, this is the place.” Turned out OK and pleased to say no murder ghosts. They give you one free tap beer with the stay too!
View of the equally historic attached bathroom. A cowboy probably took a dump here once, I feel honored to have shared a throne with such royalty.
Tomorrow going to see some local things then head west towards Devils Tower. Yee haw.
Author’s note: I am revisiting old posts from my 2016 road trip because I posted all of them from my cell phone and some of them are a bit of a mess. Main reason is to properly edit photos rather than just having what came out of my phone camera, and to include higher res photos from my mirrorless camera that never got published. Additionally some of the locations on the Geomap are wrong or often have multiple locations in a single post. OG text should be captured in a summary field when available.
Text from the original post in 2016
After scouting all the campsites and running out of daylight, I made an executive decision and gave up my camping dreams for the night. On the advice of some super helpful locals at a place called Pizza Lab in Lead, SD, I made my way to Deadwood (yes like the movies, Kevin Costner and all that jazz). Their suggestions fell through, but another helpful person sent me to the historic Franklin Hotel and Casino. Not sure why it's historic but probably something to do with Wild Bill since this whole town is based on that and sad casinos. Anyways, the room was only $30 so still within a reasonable budget. Hotel from the outside looked magnificent, rooms. It so much. If I was ever going to be murdered by ancient ghosts this was the place. Turned out OK but there's a reason it's a zero star establishment. But hey, at least they give you one free tap beer with the stay. Tomorrow going to see some local things then head west towards Devils Tower.
Lat = 44.3761406 , Long = -103.7314758 -- Show at Google Maps
jeez, you’re right- that does look like the place to get murdered by ancient ghosts!
Oh heck no! That place is just waiting for something freaky to happen.