North Dakota's Most Massive Roadside Tourist Trap Is A Surprisingly Worthwhile Quick Stop

While South Dakota has Mount Rushmore, North Dakota has a notable menagerie of its own larger-than-life attractions that are as quirky as they are beloved. There's the giant Dala Horse and Norwegian church at North Dakota's magical Scandinavian Heritage Park, for example. Meanwhile, travelers driving along Interstate 94 will be met with a surprising stretch of road filled with spectacular sculpture art when they turn off one exit. Another North Dakota monument that's easier to find (it's located right by the interstate) and also free to visit is the World's Largest Buffalo Monument, also known as Dakota Thunder. The monument's name might suggest highway gimmick, but it's not exaggerated — the sculpture is 26 feet tall and weighs 60 tons (about equal to 30 cars), all made of concrete. It's an essential stop to snap a picture with when you're driving along I-94.

The World's Largest Buffalo was built by an art teacher named Elmer Petersen in 1959, shortly after the first segment of I-94 was linked to Jamestown, North Dakota, where the buffalo stands. Petersen created the sculpture using steel beams to form a mesh frame, then covered it in a kind of sprayed cement. From its inception, the monument was a lure to attract people to Jamestown. It's not random that the sculpture is a buffalo, too. Buffalo have been an integral part of North Dakota's history and geological heritage, from the Plains tribes that relied on every part of the buffalo for food and clothing to grooved pathways left by buffalo herds trampling the ground, known as North Dakota's "bison trails." Petersen's monument solidified the buffalo as an emblem of Jamestown, specifically, with the town's nickname, "Buffalo City," emerging after the sculpture was built.

It's hard to miss the World's Largest Buffalo if you're driving through Jamestown, visible from I-94 crossing through the southern part of town. Jamestown, a friendly North Dakota city between Fargo and Bismarck, can be reached from the Hector International Airport in about a 1.5-hour drive, though Jamestown also has a small airport, the Jamestown Regional Airport, with flights from Denver, Colorado. From the Jamestown Regional Airport, the World' Largest Buffalo is a 10-minute drive across town. It's open all year, with a parking lot available.

Many visitors take pictures with the monument and then leave, but if you turn around and look down the slope, you may be able to see a live buffalo herd grazing. The neighboring North American Bison Discovery Center manages a herd that roams near the monument (if you can't see it from the monument, you can often see the live buffalo from I-94). It's worth stopping in the Discovery Center, which is less than a five-minute walk from the monument. For a low admission cost, you can learn about the buffalo's near-extinction and see the stuffed albino bison that was once part of the museum's herd (before it died naturally). From the monument, you can also go up a ramp directly to Jamestown's Frontier Village, a must-visit stop with original pioneer buildings that were transported here from all across North Dakota.