Ever been there?

[Scott Hagerty]

Has anyone been to the National Museum of Woodcarving in Custer, SD? I picked up a brochure when I was working up there this week in Mission. It looks like it would be a must see if you were in the area.

[Kenny_S]

Scott, I was there over 15 years ago and it was worth the addmission fee the. We didn't have as much time to view everything then. I was planning on going back.
However, I have heard since then, it was not worth it. To much over seas carvings.
Maybe there are several here that has been since I have that can tell you more about what it is like now.

[Terry Vance]

I was there in May of this year and I was disappointed. The original animated carvings were nice to see, but that alone was not worth the admission price. The carvings have not had any TLC in a while. Plus they are not really protected and were very dusty.

I thought I would see some works by well known american carvers, but alas, just about everything I picked up and looked at said "made in Russia or China".

I can say I been there and done that, but I did not get a "T" shirt.

[Eddy-Smiles]

Custer, S.D.? Would that be where you know who got his you know what Kicked? But seriously, it's been my expereince that more often than not private museums are disappointing. My wife and I have found that the biggest surprises are often found in living heritage type museums.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Hey, watch out there Eddy.....I have a private museum!!! However, I don't charge admission. My only requirement is that you have to stand there while I talk endlessly about my carvings!! I agree about Custer though, we went years ago but I wouldn't pay to go again. It was worth the price of the admission back in the early 90's but as I remember, it wasn't worth the time it took me to get their bumper sticker off the back of my car!!

[Eddy-Smiles]

Lynn... If you noticed I gave myself an out. I did say "not!" From what I've seen from your site and from all the comments made from folks who know you I'd say that it would deffinitely be worth the time and effort to pay you a visit. Besides... didn't I hear you say that a cup of Joe comes with every visit? As for putting up with your bragging... I'd say that sounds like it would be worth it also just to learn some of your techniques and such! But alas, the last time that I forded the wide Mississippi was on a business trip to Little Rock over ten years ago and I have no desire to duplicate that effort so I guess I'll just settle for a virtual visit for now!

[Paul_Guraedy]

First went there about 1983, returned about 5 years ago, and do not think the carvings had been touched since. It is basically a tribute to a single carver. The people I talked to at the museum were neither carvers nor interested in carving. A big disappointment and certainly not worth the entrance fee.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

There's another thing down the road from the Carving Museum that I'll never pay to see again and that's the Crazy Horse Monument. My first exposure to that was back in 1949 when the only thing visible was a white painted outline of the figures and a small hole blasted under the outstretched arm. That's been almost sixty years ago and all they've produced is the face. It took Gutson Borglum just 8 years to do the whole Mt. Rushmore project. Maybe someday it will finally be finished. But I'll bet before it is there will be several more generations of the Korczak tribe feeding off of the gullible tourists who pay the entrance fee and drive up the hill. I'd like to see the Native Americans reclaim that hill and use some of their vast Casino gleanings to show the white man that they can handle projects about their own history without any outside help.

[AlArchie]

I went to the wood Carving Museum in custer about 20 years ago and decided it was worth paying to get in ONCE, but wouldn't spend my nickle to go again. Interesting stuff but highly over rated.

I have been back to the Crazy Horse museum seven times, but only paid twice. Took our Scout troop there on five different occasions and was really pleased to see the progress being made. The Boy Scout units are admitted free of charge because of their patriotic stances and even more so, I think, because of the Arrowmen in the program. The same is not true, I'm ashamed to say, at Mt. Rushmore. Our Scout unit arrived in a big yellow school bus from Bessemer, Michigan, and although this is a National Monument, and by law entrance is free of charge, in order to park our bus, a $60 fee was charged. The parking area is built and maintained by the feds, but parking fees are franchised out to a private "operator". Of course the Park Service gets a portion of those funds as concession area rental. Add another tax to the list of ways to part us from our money!

Just from my visits, it doesn't look like the Korczaks are raising their family wealth by a whole lot. When Borgland did Mt. Rushmore, he somehow managed to get the whole finances of the US government behind him for funding......granted he spent a considerable amount of salesmanship effort in that cash acquisition, but still his funding came through from the taxpayers.

The Korczaks on the other hand have not sought, and in fact have refused offers of government financing. (Now ain't that a refreshing piece of individual independence?) I agree, Lynn, if the aggregate Native American element had the pride and determination that the Korczaks seem to have, they would have pooled enough dough from the casino interests across the continent to get this thing funded properly. There are some organized efforts by some of the tribes to contribute, but not nearly enough.

Al

[arnie]

we went in the early 90's and loved it. Of course I wasn"t a woodcarver then (some say I'm not now) Then they had a large selection of tools and books and I bought my first knife and a bunch of caving books there. I carried them around for years until I found a man, john gaddis,in mission TX who taught me to carve and it's been downhill ever since. They used to give carving lessons there in the summer. Arnie