Menoken Indian Village State Historic Site

Menoken Indian Village was established about 800 years ago on a quiet wooded spot beside Apple Creek. We don’t know who lived here, but up to 200 people once resided in 30 oval-shaped, earth-covered houses built in at least two architectural styles. A palisade (wall made of logs) and ditch system provided protection. A National Historic Landmark, the site contains information on the transition from a hunting-and-gathering to a hunting-and-gardening way of life. The village was a semipermanent base for its occupants who hunted bison and gathered plants and other raw materials in the area. Although not an early farming community, Menoken Village residents came into contact with people who either grew corn or engaged in trade with people who grew crops.

Interpretive signs throughout the site, located 10 miles east of Bismarck on the north side of Interstate 94, provide a walking tour of the village.

• Follow the fortification system that encloses an area of nearly 1.5 acres.
• Stop by the stone shelter constructed in the 1930s as one of many projects completed throughout the state by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration.
• Walk along Apple Creek and look for chokecherries, as well as signs of beaver-cut trees.
• Imagine living here with a wall made of logs and a ditch surrounding the village.