
Visit Historic Fort Snelling, which was built near the junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, and will be celebrating its 200th birthday in 2020. Over U.S. Holiday weekends, May 25-27, or July 4, 2019, visitors can explore the grounds and engage with the many historical stories, cannon firings, blacksmithing demonstrations and activities. Experience the military dress parades and visit the stone barracks to learn more about the daily life of the U.S. Soldiers and the role of the military in the growth of our nation.
Learn about Native American history and the fort’s role in U.S. expansion, as well as the African Americans at Fort Snelling including Dred and Harriet Scott whose struggle to gain freedom from slavery helped ignite the Civil War (1861-1865).

Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo credit: Visit Minneapolis
Ten minutes away, Minnehaha Falls (meaning Waterfall in Dakota) at Minnehaha Regional Park overlooks the Mississippi River and is one of Minneapolis’ oldest and popular parks. The Dakota people considered the Falls an important place where all could gather in peace. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem “The Song of Hiawatha” transformed the Falls into an icon, as it became known around the world. The poem depicts the fictitious brave Hiawatha and the princess Minnehaha, and a bronze statue of the two is located at the top of the Falls.
Near the falls is a historic marker, commemorating a June 1964 trip to the site by President Lyndon B. Johnson and above the Falls is a sculpture of Taoyateduta, the Dakota Chief known as Little Crow.
The new Minneapolis restaurant by Chef Sean Sherman, slated to open in late 2019, is called The Sioux Chef: An Indigenous Kitchen, which will feature Minnesota and Dakota territories Ojibwe, Dakota and Lakota cultures.
Chef Sherman is committed to revitalizing Native American Cuisine and currently runs Tatanka Truck, a food truck serving exclusively First People’s cuisine or pre-contact Native American Fare (before contact with the settlers). He has won the 2018 James Beard Foundation Book Award for Best American Cookbook for his book, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen which he co-wrote with Beth Dooley.
On your visit to the region, be sure to include
- Native American Tours Our People Our Stories (OPOS); Tours include sacred native sites, American Indian art and history
- Native American Burial Mounds found in Bloomington, Eagan, St. Paul, and around Lake Minnetonka where the city of Mound was named for the bumps and rises that marked the Native American burial sites
- Eagle viewing (U.S. National Bird) at the 14,000-acre (5,666 ha) Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, in Bloomington, just minutes from Mall of America® and MSP International Airport
- Native American Pow Wows or Wacipis (annual festivals filled with tradition and dancing; the annual Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Wacipi holds the largest Pow Wow in Minnesota and in the region
To learn more, visit MSPBGateway.com or contact:
Meet Minneapolis:
612.767.8116
www.minneapolis.org
Visit Saint Paul:
651.265.4904 | 800.627.6101
www.visitsaintpaul.com
The Bloomington Convention & Visitors Bureau:
952.278.8506 | 866.435.7425
www.bloomingtonmn.org