Reptile Gardens Isn’t Just an Attraction, It’s a South Dakota Tradition

I'd guess that it's more likely than not that if you grew up in South Dakota or in the states next to the Black Hills, you have a picture of your young self on the back of one of the giant tortoises at Reptile Gardens in Rapid City, South Dakota. If you didn't have a picture like that, you probably had the bumper sticker.

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A Black Hills Tradition Since 1937

I definitely have a 43-year-old picture of me with old Methuselah. Born in 1881, the gentle giant came to Rapid City in the 1950s and greeted generations of visitors until he passed in 2011.

Tank, Orville, and Samson are the names of the tortoises at Reptile Gardens nowadays. The classic Black Hills roadside attraction is still going strong in the 21st century.

Reptile Gardens - a World-Record Zoo

The reptile-centric zoo has been a fixture on Mount Rushmore vacations since its beginning in 1937. Founder Earl Brockelsby was 21 when he started the attraction with a hole full of local snakes. His passion kept the attraction growing through the years.

Reptile Gardens Still Matters Today

By the time car culture exploded in the 1950s, Brockelsby added a dozen Nile crocodiles and Methuselah, the giant tortoise.

Over the years, the zoo kept growing in reputation and animal residents, adding a Komodo Dragon, alligator, and crocodile shows, frogs, exotic bugs, a prairie dog town, birds, and a lot more. Since 2018, Reptile Gardens has been recognized as the Guinness World Records holder for the world's largest reptile zoo.

One of my favorite places to visit was the Sky Dome. It's like an indoor jungle made up of tropical plants from all over. It's also where the crocs live, and it's the place to see their amazing collection of snakes, including some of the world's most venomous. As a young dinosaur-obsessive, I really loved seeing the fossils they have there, too. One of them is an Archelon Turtle fossil that was dug up nearby.

Reptile Gardens sees nearly 300,000 visitors a year. It's a true South Dakota destination. It was an amazing experience introducing it to my kids, continuing a Black Hills tradition.

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