For the first time since we left Michigan ten days earlier, my photographer and his wife, Vicki, didn’t wake up to an alarm clock. Tom figured the three of us needed a more-relaxed day, which he figured would be spent driving, climbing, and hiking in and around Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was roughly 9:15am on Sunday September 17, 2023 when we finally left the Mountain View Lodge near Hill City. After Tom carefully placed me on the backseat of the van, I had one thing, and one thing only, on my mind – I couldn’t wait to see the State Game Lodge, which served as President Calvin Coolidge’s Summer White House in 1927.
Surprisingly, Tom didn’t seem to have a well-laid out plan for Custer State Park. I made that discovery when I heard him tell Vicki we were just going to “wing it” for the day. My photographer also said besides the State Game Lodge, he didn’t know what to expect in the park except for the beautiful scenery and its abundance of wild critters.
At a few minutes before ten o’clock, Vicki navigated the van onto Needles Highway – which was a 14-mile stretch of winding and twisting two-lane paved road that bisected the center of Custer State Park. We visited Sylvan Lake, which we found out later was the film location for a memorable scene in the 2007 movie ‘National Treasure: Book of Secrets’. After we spent time in and around the famed Needles Tunnel, the three of us made our way to a very scenic area named Cathedral Spires. Finally, at the end of the Needles Highway, my photographer’s wife drove us to the promised land where I got the chance to visit the Summer White House of President Calvin Coolidge.
At roughly 12:45pm, Vicki pulled our van into the parking lot of the historic State Game Lodge. The large stone and wood hotel was built between 1919 and 1922 and is located on the eastside of the 71,000-acre park, roughly 13 miles east of Custer, South Dakota. Upon first glance, I was very impressed by the historic hotel – especially when Tom photographed me standing in the same places around the exterior where Calvin and Grace Coolidge had posed in 1927 during their summer-long stay. As you know by now, I love standing in the footsteps of our Presidents. There was also an unexpected surprise – it turned out President Dwight Eisenhower had resided at the State Game Lodge during his week-long visit in 1953.
President and Mrs. Coolidge, along with their entourage, came to the Black Hills to escape the scorching heat of the swamp – otherwise known as Washington D.C. Known as a man of few words, Coolidge was deemed as a person who disliked most everything, and it was written by reporters that his primary feat was to sleep more than any other President in history. The Coolidge’s had vacationed on the Massachusetts’ shore in 1925, and a year later, they travelled to the Adirondack Mountains in New York for the summer. In 1927, Cal was resolved to vacation somewhere “West of the Allegheny’s and East of the Rockies.” The political leaders of South Dakota, including the Governor and Senators, talked Coolidge into staying in their state as a way to promote tourism in the Black Hills. In their pitch to the President, they boasted of lofty peaks, magnificent forests, sparkling streams and an “ideal” climate. They also mentioned the area was splendid for fishing, golf, polo and tennis. The biggest concern Coolidge had for the visit was whether or not the flies and mosquitos were bad; claiming: “The last place we went, they nearly pestered me to death.” The other aspect the President hoped to avoid was crowds as he became annoyed easily when people gathered and gawked at him. Sounds to me like Calvin Coolidge was high maintenance, which reminded me of my photographer.
When the President and First Lady arrived on June 16, 1927, they had the entire State Game Lodge to themselves – along with their collies, Rob Roy and Prudence Prim; Grace’s pet racoon, Rebecca, who lived in a wicker basket; and five canaries. The Secret Service and other staff members resided in nearby cabins. Coolidge also had set up a formal office for himself and other officials at the Rapid City High School. Throughout his extended stay, the President made visits to Indian reservations, mines, farmers’ picnics, county fairs, church socials, and rodeos. Coolidge also relished the area’s climate – he professed to feeling healthier while he enjoyed a great deal of fishing.
The most surprising event during Calvin Coolidge’s stay in the Black Hills came on August 2nd when he met with reporters at his office in Rapid City. The visit at Custer State Park had gone better than the President could have ever imagined, and he felt healthier than he had in years. When all of the members of the press arrived, Coolidge handed each reporter a slip of paper, of which was typed a single line: “I do not choose to run for President in nineteen twenty-eight.” For a moment, the reporters sat in stunned silence. Then someone asked Coolidge if he had anything else to add. The President said “No”, and he walked out of the room. Silent Cal was a man of few words.
On August 10th, the President rode horseback with his entourage to Mount Rushmore, sporting the boots and 10-gallon hat given to him by local residents. Even though Coolidge did his best to limit his public appearances during his vacation, the President went to Mount Rushmore to help preside over the dedication of the mountain-carving project led by Gutzon Borglum.
Before the President presented Borglum with six steel drill bits which the artist could use to start carving the mountain, Coolidge delivered a dedication speech: “We have come here to dedicate a cornerstone laid by the hand of the Almighty. The union of these four Presidents carved on the face of the everlasting Black Hills of South Dakota will be distinctly American in its conception, in its magnitude, in its meaning. No one can look upon it without realizing it is a picture of hope fulfilled. Its location will be significant. Here in the heart of the continent, on the side of a mountain which probably no white man had ever beheld in the days of Washington; in territory acquired by the action of Jefferson; which remained unbroken wilderness beyond the days of Lincoln; which was especially loved by Roosevelt.”
Following our photoshoot near the exterior of the State Game Lodge, Tom carried me inside where I posed in the living area, and then outside of both President’s second-story rooms. My photographer tried to gain access to Coolidge’s room, but he was told the room was occupied and there was no way we’d be able to see the interior. Even though the two of us were disappointed, mainly because the original desk the President had used was still inside the room, we understood the reasoning. There was one thing I knew for certain – Tom will make sure the three of us have reservations for that room during our next visit to the Black Hills.
It was 1:30pm when my two companions decided to have their main meal of the day in the State Game Lodge dining room. While it wasn’t the same dining area used by the Coolidge’s in 1927, it was nonetheless a very elegant eating area. For the next 45 minutes, I had the pleasure of watching my photographer stuff his face at the lodge’s all-you-can-eat buffet – which included chili made with buffalo meat. Let me tell you, that moment was reminiscent of when John “Bluto” Blutarsky ate his lunch at Faber College in the 1978 movie ‘Animal House’.
When we left the Calvin Coolidge Summer White House behind, I couldn’t believe what I heard come from the “Blutographer’s” mouth – and no, it wasn’t a belch. Out of nowhere, Tom said to his wife: “Let’s drive into Custer and get some pie. I met a guy in the hotel lobby this morning and he said the best rhubarb pie in the world comes from the Purple Pie Place in Custer. And as luck would have it, I’ve saved some room for a little slice of pie heaven.”
Thirteen miles later, after we cut through the heart of Custer State Park, the three of us arrived in front of a bright purple, two-story building located on the western side of Custer, South Dakota. When the Purple Pie Place originally opened in 1981, it sold roughly four pies per day. But four decades and four owners later, the P³ sells an average of 100 to 150 pies each day during the summer and fall. Even though Tom had no intention of buying a slice of rhubarb pie, which is what the place is most famous for, my photographer did order a slice of bumbleberry pie à la mode; while Vicki stayed with a more traditional piece of cherry pie, with no ice cream. I had to admit – the bumbleberry pie and vanilla ice cream looked so scrumptious I wanted Tom to smear a gob onto my painted lips. Then I realized – he didn’t get that fat by sharing his pie with a bobble head.
I laughed to myself as I watched my two companions struggle to get into the van. At one point, I thought my photographer might explode – which would have covered the entire town of Custer in bumbleberry pie, ice cream, and some hour-old chili.
One of the aspects of Custer State Park that Vicki wanted to experience the most was wild animals, and up to that point, all we saw was one tired buffalo and a lone mule deer. But that all changed when Tom guided us towards a section of the park known as the Wildlife Loop Road – which was eighteen miles of paved roadway through open grasslands and pine-speckled hills where much of Custer State Park’s wildlife call home. We didn’t know for sure which animals we would see at four o’clock in the afternoon, but our eyes were pealed for anything walking on four legs – or on two legs if a Sasquatch was there.
While the park’s brochure boasted of a countless number of wild bison, pronghorn, whitetail and mule deer, elk, coyotes, burros, prairie dogs, eagles, and hawks, the animal population must’ve had that Sunday afternoon off. For nearly two hours, the only critters we encountered was a couple of bison herds and a group of fairly tame, free-range, burros – which were affectionately known as the “begging burros” because they’re known to mooch food from passing motorists.
Even though we saw some bison and burros, the time we spent on the Wildlife Loop Road turned into a huge disappointment. We had hoped to see some animals with claws, or long antlers, or perhaps even a critter with very big feet, but that never happened.
The sun was very low on the western horizon when we returned to the Mountain View Lodge at roughly 6:45pm. After my photographer struggled to get up the stairs and into our room, he collapsed in his bed seconds after he placed me alongside the television set. I knew my two companions were exhausted, and it didn’t take long before they were fast asleep.
I wasn’t sure what was on the following day’s agenda except I knew we had another full day of sightseeing in the Black Hills of South Dakota. In my mind, I hoped we’d see Mount Rushmore again; but I knew that might not set well with Vicki as we had just visited that monument in 2021. But since we were only ten miles from one of the most spectacular and beautiful Presidential sites in the country, how could we not go there? But after that – I didn’t know what to expect; although I did hear Tom tell his wife he didn’t want to revisit the Crazy Horse Memorial again.
I stood alone in the darkness throughout the night, and for the most part, my mind was filled with the sight of bumbleberry pie. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I envisioned I was standing on a table and holding five playing cards – two black aces, and two black eights; but I couldn’t make out the fifth card. Then I heard what sounded like someone cocking the hammer of a revolver. Was it Booth; or Czolgosz; or Guiteau; or perhaps even John Hinckley, Jr? It turned out to be my wild, wild imagination – likely caused by the aroma of fresh bumbleberry pie.
