1. Fort Meade Va Medical Center
City: Fort Meade, SD
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (605) 347-2511, (800) 743-1070
Address: 113 Comanche Rd.
Description: Fort Meade VA Center is part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Black Hills Health Care System that provides primary and secondary medical and surgical care along with domiciliary, extended nursing home, and tertiary psychiatric inpatient care services for veterans residing in South Dakota and portions of Nebraska, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Montana. Other specialty programs include addictive disorders, post-traumatic stress, and compensated work therapy. VA Black Hills features medical centers at Fort Meade and Hot Springs along with many community based outpatient clinics, including Rapid City. It is ranked among the nation’s top five VA health care facilities for patient satisfaction. Fort Meade VA Center, 2 miles east of Sturgis, has been a VA facility since the birth of the VA in the 1940s, but there has been a hospital at the 120-year-old fort since its founding. Today it features inpatient and outpatient care, an inpatient psychiatric unit, and a rehabilitation-focused nursing-home care unit.
2. Old Fort Meade Museum & Old Post Cemetery
City: Fort Meade, SD
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (605) 347-9822
Address: SR 34
Description: Constructed in 1878 by the remnants of Custer’s Seventh Cavalry, Fort Meade was designed to keep the peace between native Lakota and Cheyenne tribes and the invading white settlers. Amazingly, there is still a military presence there. Today Fort Meade includes the Veterans Administration Medical Center and the Veterans Affairs complex. The museum chronicles historic events and changes with displays chock-full of artifacts, clippings, photographs, and stories. Fort Meade was the home of Custer’s Seventh Cavalry (after Little Bighorn and the death of Custer) and the Buffalo Soldiers of the 25th Infantry, Dakota Territory. It was also one of two South Dakota prison camps during World War II, housing soldiers from General Rommel’s Africa Corps.To get to the museum building, enter the grounds at the Fort Meade complex entrance and follow the blue signs. It is open daily from May 15 through Sept 15. From Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from May 15 until Memorial Day weekend and from Labor Day weekend until Sept 15.The Old Post Cemetery is on a hill south of the museum, accessed by a gravel road. It’s best to ask for directions at the museum before attempting to find it on your own. Soldiers, their relatives, and civilians were buried in the cemetery from 1878 until about 1948, when the Black Hills National Cemetery opened. In the tradition of the time, headstones have very little detail (some even lack dates), and the number of children buried there may shock you. It’s open all year, 24 hours a day. There is no fee for admission to the cemetery.