The town of PIPESTONE , eight miles east of the South Dakota border, is named for a soft red clay, within the local quartzite, that was used for centuries by Great Plains Indians to make ceremonial calumets, or peace pipes. The quarry site, a kind of neutral, inter-tribal United Nations, is now the Pipestone National Monument (daily 8am-5pm, longer on summer weekends; $2). A self-guided trail winds from the visitor center through stands of trees, past rock formations and exposed quarry pits and over a creek, complete with picturesque falls.

Pipestone's small historic district includes a sleepy county museum and a building with several amusing sandstone gargoyles. Pick up a walking-tour brochure from the visitor center (tel 507/825-3316 or 1-800/336-6125), near the junction of highways 75 and 23. You can sleep and eat at the grand old Calumet Inn , 104 W Main St (tel 507/825-5871 or 1-800/535-7610, ; $75-100), though the Arrow Motel , Hwy-75 N, is less expensive (tel 507/825-3331 or 1-888/825-9599; $35-50). Each late July to early August the town puts on the nine-day "Song of Hiawatha" Indian pageant in an outdoor amphitheater.

From a distance the red rocks at Blue Mounds State Park , sloping into a long cliff a few miles north of the junction of I-90 and US-75 at Luverne, create a great hump that appeared blue at sunset to approaching pioneers. Twice a year, at the equinoxes, the sun lines up with a curious 1250ft row of rocks, aligned on an east-west axis. There are seasonal campgrounds (tel 1-800/246-CAMP) and a permanent small herd of buffalo. Ring the same number for picturesque Split Rock Creek State Park , only seven miles south of Pipestone and the site of a dam dating from 1935.

Pipestone National Monument

• Pipestone National Monument

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