The largest town in northwest Nebraska, Chadron (pop. 5,634) sits at the northern edge of the Sand Hills region, bounded by pine forests to the south and the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation to the north, across the South Dakota border. The highway frontage along US-20 isn’t especially inviting, but the two-block town center preserves its turn-of-the-20th-century character with sandstone and brick-fronted buildings along the south side of the still-used railroad tracks.
There’s not a lot to do in Chadron, but it does make a handy base for trips north to the Pine Ridge lands and the Black Hills, or south to the marvelous Carhenge. Motels include a Best Western and a Super 8, but the most characterful place to stay is the Old Main Street Inn ($65–85; 308/432-3380), at 115 Main Street. Part old railroad hotel, part cozy B&B, the inn has rooms, a popular restaurant and saloon downstairs, and Chadron’s only espresso machine. (In 1890, General Miles stayed at this hotel before heading north to massacre Sioux women and children at Wounded Knee.)
If you’re anywhere nearby, don’t miss the excellent Museum of the Fur Trade (daily June–Sept., by appointment rest of the year; $5; 308/432-3843), on US-20 three miles east of downtown Chadron. One of the great small museums in the United States, this privately run collection focuses on the material culture of the North American frontier. Its extensive displays bring to life the first few centuries of interaction between Native Americans and Europeans. Besides giving the overall historical context of the fur trade and its many related enterprises, the collection emphasizes the day-to-day realities of life on the Great Plains in the 18th and 19th centuries. Walls decked with weapons and bottles of whiskey (from the Americans), rum (from the English), and brandy (from the French) document the better-known aspects, but what captures your attention are the little things: packs of playing cards, a checkerboard—even a waterproof parka made out of seal intestines by the Inuit.
