FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Delores Linn
October 6, 2009
(701) 623-4355
MEDORA – This Halloween, the Chateau de Mores State Historic Site Interpretive Center will host its First Annual A Night in Our Museum, Saturday, October 31, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Mountain Time, as part of Medora’s Halloween activities.
The ‘ghostly tour’ is limited to 40 participants. There is no charge, but pre-registration is required by Friday, October 23. To register, call the Chateau de Mores Interpretive Center at (701) 623-4355.
The Interpretive Center will open at 6:30 p.m. for tour participants to pick up their tickets. Beginning at 6:45 p.m., there will be an open house in the Interpretive Center. Visitors do not have to be a tour participant to enjoy the open house, which will feature treats, games and door prizes. The open house will continue until 9:30 p.m.
The interpretive center is open year-round. It is currently operating on its winter schedule, which remains in effect through May 15. Winter schedule hours are Wednesdays through Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mountain Time. Summer hours, in place from May 16 through September 15, are daily from 8:30 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. Mountain Time.
The interpretive center is part of the 128-acre state historic site that interprets the enterprises of the Marquis de Mores, the French nobleman and entrepreneur who in the 1880s ran a cutting-edge meatpacking plant in Medora, the town he founded and named after his wife. The site is managed by the state’s history agency, the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Visitors to the interpretive center will see the permanent exhibit, Rails, Ranching and Riches: The Marquis de Mores in Dakota, which tells the story of the Marquis de Mores (1858-96). His family’s 26-room summer home includes thousands of original artifacts. Featured is a smaller-scale refrigerator car, along with the Deadwood, an original stagecoach from the Marquis’s Deadwood and Medora Stage and Forwarding Company.
Also available for viewing is The Photographs of Frank B. Fiske. Born at Fort Bennett, Dakota Territory, Fiske (1883-1952) spent most of his life in the Fort Yates area. Fiske learned the photography trade at the post studio and took it over in 1900. He was best known for documenting everyday life at Fort Yates and Standing Rock Agency during the early part of the 20th Century. This exhibit, a representative collection of the 7,000 images in the State Historical Society of North Dakota’s Frank B. Fiske Collection, will be at the interpretive center through October 17, 2010.
Another exhibit is The Art of Einar Olstad. Inspired by the people, scenery and ranch life of the Dakota Badlands, rancher artist Einar Olstad (1878-1955) captured the essence of the American West in his whimsical and often humorous portrayals of the Dakota cowboy. In addition to a wide selection of his evocative paintings, objects relating to ranching life in the 1930s are featured in this exhibit, which will be at the interpretive center through October 17, 2010.
The Chateau de Mores State Historic Site Interpretive Center is closed only on New Year’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Admission is $7 per adult, $3 per child ages 6-15, and children 5 and under are admitted free.
Free admission to all sites administered by the State Historical Society of North Dakota (SHSND) is one of the many benefits for members of the SHSND Foundation. Others include a 15 percent discount on museum store purchases, and the quarterly publications North Dakota History and Plains Talk. To become a member, call the Foundation at (701) 222-1966 or visit the website at www.statehistoricalfoundation.com.
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Address:
612 East Boulevard Ave.
Bismarck, North Dakota 58505
Get Directions
Hours:
Exhibit galleries and Museum Store: 8am - 5pm M-F; Sat. & Sun. 10am - 5pm.
State Archives: 8am - 4:30pm., M-F, except legal holidays, and 2nd Sat. of each month, 10am - 4:30 pm.
State Historical Society offices: 8am - 5pm M-F, except legal holidays.
Contact Us:
phone: (701) 328-2666
fax: (701) 328-3710
email: histsoc@nd.gov
