Medora, North Dakota, is positively cuckoo for Theodore Roosevelt.
Want to slumber like the 26th president? Stay at the Rough Riders Hotel on Third Avenue. Craving the hearty breakfast of the founder of the Bull Moose Party? Brunch at TR's Tavern in Theodore's Dining Room. Need an eponymous souvenir? Shop at Teddy's Bears near the Point to Point amusement park. Seeking to emulate TR's rugged outdoor adventures? Set out on the miles of bison-filled trails traversing Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
The town—situated in scrubland foothills 25 miles from the Montana border and 250 miles north of Teddy's likeness at Mt. Rushmore—is more or less governed by the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation, and, frankly, its worshipful attitude toward its patron was enough to make even a die-hard Teddy fan like myself blush.
But beginning on July 4, to mark the semiquincentennial, Medora welcomed a much more ambitious and spectacular Roosevelt-themed attraction to its borders: the official presidential library of the youngest man ever to assume the office. My mid-August visit with my 19-year-old son left me satisfied with how well TR's legacy had been captured, impressed at how the designers integrated nature, technology, and artifacts, and also mildly depressed about how dominant digital modes of experience have become.
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