7/27/2011 Town for Sale,,,,really!

Today we took a scenic ride to Scenic. Yes, you read that right. Bob heard about the town called Scenic, South Dakota on the news and we decided to go check it out.

The road into Scenic.

After all, its not everyday that one gets to go to a town that’s for sale!

Think about it, in New York City $799,000 will get you a two bedroom apartment. In South Dakota it will get you a town! Including residents, all nine of ‘em. Well, you don’t actually buy the residents they just come with the package but you have no legal rights of ownership of course.

Twila Merril owns the town, well 95% of what is inside the town limits and all 34 acres of the surrounding land. Mrs. Merril, I was told by one of the townspeople, is fighting her TENTH battle with cancer. She and her daughter thought it was time to sell.

I took the picture above while Twila was being interviewed and filmed by CNN. Oh yes, the town for sale is making news in a lot of places. The Rapid City Journal first broke the news and wrote a story about this town and it was picked up by Associated Press. Next thing you know CNN comes calling and the BBC calls for an interview.

Twila Merill, according to her daughter, was an adventurous cowgirl in her younger days and was known to never back down from a fight, with or with guns involved. She loved this town so much that whenever a property came up for sale, she bought it. And now she owns nearly all of it. It was first put on the market two years ago for the sum of $3,000,000.00. Not one nibble was taken at that price. It is more appropriately priced now at a hundred dollars shy of eight hundred thousand according to the real estate representative. We were told there have been a few nibbles now, but no real bites.

The town of Scenic was established back in the early 1900’s. A little town that was a stopping off point for the railroad that ran through this area. A town cowboys called home.

The town had a bank, a grocery store, a high school, a church and even a hotel back in the day. Then the Depression came and it hit Scenic hard.

Farmers had large families and they needed to be fed. There just weren’t enough jobs for everyone and they had no choice but leave this town. Businesses started closing as the population dwindled.

Some of the remaining families have been here since the 1940’s. Of course they go to Rapid City or somewhere else close by for work now but their address is still Scenic, South Dakota.

This was the Longhorn Store, the place where the ladies of the town may have gone to buy material to sew their daughters new Sunday school dresses and where their husbands may have gone to buy shovels or tack for their teams or perhaps a new pair of spurs.

According to the sign on the building,,,,they must have sold everything.

The old Bunkhouse. I guess this is where the unmarried cowboys lived.

Can you just hear the cowboy stories that must have been told sitting on the porch of the bunkhouse? Can you see a cowboy sitting on the railing in the dark of night, the only light from his hand rolled cigarette?

I went inside one of buildings and talked with the proprietor of the rock and mineral store. He wanted me to be sure to take a picture of his sign, he quite proud of it. I’m thinking he turned the phrase.

His display cases were all empty, the glass dusty and smeared, the only light from the front door because the electricity has been cut off. He was packing up the last of his rocks, stones and minerals, there’s just no business anymore. On average there are some 700 cars that pass through this town on any given day, rarely does anyone stop. I didn’t catch his name and I don’t know that he offered it but I walked away from there thinking if I had to name him it would be Sad Sam. He talked fondly of his town, the people who lived here, how it was in its heyday. He hopes whoever buys it will revive it and businesses will come back. I don’t know that he will, I think he’s resigned himself to retirement. I certainly didn’t get the impression he was looking forward to it.

Across the street was, at one time, an art gallery. Native American, Sam 2 Bulls, is a local artist and had this gallery in Scenic for several years. Another business gone by the wayside.

Our next stop was the Longhorn Saloon. Today the building was open, but only because CNN was in town interviewing what townspeople are left and were available.

Looking at the picture below can you hear the piano playing? Can you hear the cowboys playing poker in the corner? Can you see a mug of cold beer being slid down the bar to the cowboy who just came in off the dusty trail?

I was surprised at the several inches of sawdust on the floor. The ceiling and walls are made from rough hewn boards of pine and the bar stools, well they are made with old milk cans sitting on what looks to be small tire rims, with horseshoes for the foot rest and tractor seats.

Several years ago visitors took to writing their names, the date they visited and funny sayings on the walls and ceilings.

Oh yeah, and someone made fancy with magic markers on one of the many skulls displayed around the town.

We passed one of two jails in the town. This one was on Main Street and was used for public humiliation. Maybe the town drunks got thrown in there to sleep it off. I would imagine horse thieves and the such were held in the more secure jail until the circuit judge came to town and the rope thrown over a high tree branch.

This is the town hall. It was used at the high school gym at one time because the basketball backboards are still hanging and the lines on the floor, though faint with age, are still visible.

Now there are pew like benches in place on the floor but at one time great dances were held here. If you shut your eyes and strain your ear maybe you can hear the likes of The Sons of Pioneers singing Tumbling Tumbleweeds as the cowboys and their ladies two step around the floor.

Weeds are growing like wildfire in this all but forgotten town, it truly would have been fitting to see a tumbleweed making its way down the road.

I wonder if anyone of note has spent time in this jail?

Tatanka (which means buffalo) Trading Post is still in business.

It sells a variety of things such as locally made jewelry, used clothing, outgrown toys, old Avon bottles, buffalo jerky and an assortment of other trinkets. There was a guest book on the counter and just four lines up from where we signed was a Sarah Deal from Milford, Delaware, our home state.

This building was built in 1920 and was home to the town’s church.

Did I mention that Scenic sits right outside of Badlands National Park?

On the way home we were both pretty quiet, deep in our own thoughts when all of a sudden Bob yells….DINOSAUR! And sure enough……there was one.

Well there it is, Scenic, South Dakota, a town for sale.