Pipestone National Monument

Pipestone National Monument
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
U.S. National Monument
Show map of Minnesota Show map of the United States
Location	Sweet Township, Pipestone County, Minnesota
Nearest city	Pipestone, Minnesota
Coordinates	44°0′48″N 96°19′30″W / 44.01333°N 96.32500°W / 44.01333; -96.32500
Area	281.78 acres (1.14 km2)
Visitation	73,267 (2019)[2]
Website	Pipestone National Monument
MPS	Pipestone County MRA (AD)
NRHP reference No.	66000112[1]
Significant dates
Designated HD	October 15, 1966
Designated NMON	August 25, 1937

Pipestone National Monument is located in southwestern Minnesota, just north of the city of Pipestone, Minnesota. It is located along the highways of U.S. Route 75, Minnesota State Highway 23 and Minnesota State Highway 30. The quarries are culturally significant to 23 tribal nations of North America. Those known to actually occupied the site chronologically are the Yankton Dakota, Iowa, and Omaha peoples. The Quarries were considered a neutral territory in the historic past where all tribal nations could quarry stone for ceremonial pipes.^[3] The catlinite, or "pipestone", is traditionally used to make ceremonial pipes. They are vitally important to Plains Indian traditional practices. Archeologists believe the site has been in use for over 3000 years with Minnesota pipestone having been found in ancient North American burial mounds across a large geographic area.^[4]