The full collection

All stories.

Every Peace Garden Almanac story, newest first. Browse by route or region in the North Dakota Guide instead, or filter below by category.

Only in North Dakota9 minutes

The Two-Gate Airport That Out-Landed Atlanta

Grand Forks International really has finished first in the country for takeoffs and landings. It is also a two-gate airport in a city of about 59,000. Both are true, and the distance between them is the story.

Fact-checked September 2, 2026

Things to Do10 minutes

Horace Bean Days: A Fast-Growing Town’s Weekend for a Legume

Every September, a Fargo suburb that counted 915 residents in 2000 runs a Main Street parade, a street dance and fireworks, all in the name of the dry bean.

Fact-checked September 2, 2026

Only in North Dakota9 minutes

The North Dakota Mast That Was Once the Tallest Thing on Earth

The KVLY-TV mast near Blanchard held the world height record across three separate reigns. Then it lost 76 feet in 2019 and handed its last two crowns to the mast about five miles away.

Fact-checked September 2, 2026

Things to Do8 minutes

North Dakota Festivals, Month by Month: The Calendar That Runs at Twelve Below

Two dozen dated town celebrations, from a January log sauna to a September powwow, plus the 47-year Scandinavian festival that just ended and the successor that took its place.

Fact-checked September 2, 2026

Only in North Dakota11 minutes

North Dakota’s Biggest Claims, Checked Against the Record

A 38-foot fiberglass cow, three towns claiming the center of a continent, and a 1969 “riot” that took 500 National Guard troops to break up. Every number here is checked, including the ones that turned out to be wrong.

Fact-checked September 2, 2026

Editorial illustration of a family car driving west across the North Dakota prairie beneath a huge sky, with a field notebook and map in the foreground.
Family Travel19 minutes

North Dakota With Kids: An I-94 Road Trip Built for Real Attention Spans

A four-day Fargo-to-Medora plan with one meaningful stop at a time, indoor and outdoor pivots, verified bathroom breaks, and an honest choice between the national park and the new presidential library.

Fact-checked August 8, 2026

Layered badlands formations and prairie in Theodore Roosevelt National Park's South Unit.
Things to Do9 minutes

North Unit vs. South Unit: Which Part of Theodore Roosevelt National Park Should You Visit?

Choose the South Unit for the easiest first visit and the North Unit for a quieter, more rugged half day. The real decision turns on your route, walking plans, services, and one easy-to-miss time-zone change.

Fact-checked August 8, 2026

Sunset over the Little Missouri River and layered Badlands at Wind Canyon in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Things to Do19 minutes

One Day in Theodore Roosevelt National Park: Three Honest South Unit Plans

The South Unit loop is whole again. Here is how to spend one realistic day, with an overlook-first plan, a short-hike plan, and a flexible route for children or limited walking.

Fact-checked August 8, 2026

Editorial illustration of an open book whose pages become North Dakota Badlands and a winding boardwalk.
Things to Do13 minutes

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Is Open: What a First Visit Actually Requires

The new Medora library is a half-day visit, not a quick museum stop. Here is the current 2026 plan for tickets, timing, parking, access, children, food, and pairing it with the national park.

Fact-checked August 8, 2026

Carl Ben Eielson stands beside the Harmon Trophy in Washington in 1929.
North Dakota Greats10 minutes

The North Dakota Pilot Who Flew Across the Top of the World

Carl Ben Eielson carried Alaska’s first official airmail, walked off the Arctic ice, crossed the polar sea and helped open Antarctica to flight. All of it came before his final mission at 32.

Fact-checked August 7, 2026

Family & Science

The Dinosaur Whose Skin Turned to Stone

Fact-checked August 7, 2026

Editorial illustration of unbranded seasoned pretzels beside a road leading toward a North Dakota prairie town.
North Dakota Greats10 minutes

The North Dakota Pretzel That Outgrew Its Hometown

Dorothy “Dot” Henke turned a seasoned snack from a rural Velva kitchen into a national brand. The true story is better than the billion-dollar shorthand. It is also more complicated.

Fact-checked August 7, 2026

An illustrated North Dakota prairie connects symbols for music, sports, aviation, science, film, and writing.
North Dakota Greats13 minutes

24 Famous People From North Dakota and Their Real Connections

The state’s best-known names did not all begin here in the same way. These are the hometowns, schools, studios, depots and second chances behind 24 remarkable lives.

Fact-checked August 7, 2026

Layered buttes and prairie in the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Things to Do

Fargo to Medora: The North Dakota Drive That Changes Its Mind

Fact-checked August 7, 2026

Editorial illustration of a rotating storm beyond a 1950s prairie neighborhood.
Weather & Science11 minutes

The Night Fargo Helped Teach the World to Read a Tornado

In 1957, a lone Weather Bureau observer watched a black cone cross the prairie toward Fargo. The warning he improvised and the photographs residents made would become part of meteorological history.

Fact-checked August 7, 2026

Military & Cold War9 minutes

The Pyramid That Watched for the End of the World

North Dakota’s strangest landmark was the nerve center of America’s only completed Safeguard missile-defense complex. Its real life was brief, but not quite the single day of legend.

Fact-checked August 7, 2026

Editorial illustration of a 1930s radio and microphone beside a prairie rail line becoming an audio waveform.
North Dakota Greats10 minutes

Before Peggy Lee, There Was Norma Egstrom

A short-line depot, small radio studios and one well-timed new name shaped the North Dakota years of an American original. They did not make her legend inevitable.

Fact-checked August 7, 2026

Phil Jackson courtside during the 2006–07 NBA season.
North Dakota Greats11 minutes

Before the Rings: Phil Jackson’s North Dakota Apprenticeship

Fact-checked August 7, 2026

Four historic home-run bats on display, including Roger Maris's 61st-home-run bat.
North Dakota Greats11 minutes

Sixty-One: The North Dakota Road Roger Maris Carried to New York

Fact-checked August 7, 2026

Things to Do

Things to Do in North Dakota: The Field Guide for a State Measured in Horizons

Fact-checked August 7, 2026