We went to the 4 mile and got a great tour for $5 The staff gives guests a tape recorder that narrates the history of each house. This is a long tour and well worth the money. Lots of artifacts.
What a great piece of American history. Self guided tour. The owner is a real gem. Loved it so much we went there twice. The teenagers even liked it :)
Save your money, even though it is only $5 to get in. You enter and there are a couple of kids inside the building that belong to the lady at the counter. You are handed a old tape recorder with a narrative tape about the town and building. Again, save your money.
We spent about two hours here, on a side trip from the Black Hills. I could definitely tell the work that the proprietor and her husband had put into the place over the years...but with his passing, appears that the required work is a little more than the owner could handle. The 'near' part of the town is in pretty good shape, and decent for viewing. Getting toward the back -- at the stockade and some of the other small buildings, there's just a lot of debris thrown in there, including plastic tubs and broken furniture. And many of the little paper signs around the grounds were faded out and torn...they definitely need a reprint! We had two kids (8 and 5) with us, and they really enjoyed climbing up on the stagecoach in the middle of the grounds -- gave my wife and I some peace and quiet to explore! All in all, I'm glad we did it -- for $5 a person (and our 5 year old was free), it was about as good an introduction to SD 1880's life that you can get without trekking up to Deadwood. And really showed us why people in that kind of drab, monotonous lifestyle were prone to go a little nuts!
This was one of the highlights to our trip to the Dakotas. This place is so authentically a town from the old west, and only 4 miles out of Custer on Hwy 16. It shouldn't be missed! We spent almost 2 hours there and loved it all. Can't believe people lived the way they did in the late 1800's. I feel so lucky now! also the lady who owns the place is very friendly and has a quirky sense of humour that we really enjoyed. All through the town, while walking through with the cassette recorded guided tour, we were given snippets of her oddly funny humour which made the tour even more enjoyable. The place is becoming quite run down and it looks like it's left to the elements for the most part but it only serves to prove how old it really is. I wish there was more advertising for this. I only found out about it on a billboard just outside of Custer. There is even an old stockade with military history. It's the real thing. Better than 1880 town or any other old west town I saw.
The cabin that we stayed in for our visit was located directly behind this attraction so when we wanted to do something later in the day we decided to go here since it was so close. It doesn't look like much from the outside but my 7yo and 2yo loved it. It all is very interesting and they provided a tape recorder for a listening tour. We did get a little confused at the order it went though.
I really enjoyed this place. I took my daughter and three preschoolers to 4-Mile Old West. My 5 yr old granddaughter carried to tape player and I enjoyed talking to her about what was said on the tape. She had many questions she wanted answer and so we ended up having some good discussions. We really liked being able to go and look at the items in the buildings. So many place don't allow you to look at them up close. Later on she had to tell people about our experience there.
Our cabin was located behind this attraction so we decided to check it out since it was later in the day and it was still open. It was worth stopping at for us. My children are 2 and 7 and they thought it was cool and enjoyed walking around and listening to the walking tour.
My sister and her husband took us there. it was our first time and the second for my sister. They told me about poker face Annie and just had to meet her. I like her immediately. I loved connecting with her. I would definetly go back.
A cassette player audio guides you through the town and fort where Four Mile stagecoach stop once stood. Interesting, with lots of props and history.