Best Minnesota
Released in 1996, Fargo is a crime thriller with elements of dark comedy directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The plot involves a pregnant police chief in Minnesota investigating a series of homicides that occur after a car salesman hires two criminals to kidnap his wife. The film was critically acclaim...
The Split Rock Lighthouse stands as a significant landmark on Lake Superior's North Shore. Constructed in 1925, this clifftop lighthouse guides maritime traffic through treacherous waters near Two Harbors, Minnesota. Its historic Fresnel lens remains operational and the site is now maintained as a m...
The Mill City Museum is a history museum operated by the Minnesota Historical Society, located on the Mississippi River waterfront in Minneapolis. It is built within the ruins of the Washburn A Mill, which was once the largest flour mill in the world before being heavily damaged by fire in 1991. The...
The Washburn A Mill was a flour mill complex in Minneapolis, Minnesota, built in 1874 by Cadwallader C. Washburn. The facility utilized St. Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River to power its operations and became the world's largest flour mill by the 1880s, capable of producing 2,000 barrels daily....
The Glacial Ridge Project is a major tallgrass prairie and wetland restoration initiative located in northwestern Minnesota. Overseen primarily by The Nature Conservancy, the project focuses on restoring thousands of acres of landscape that had previously been drained for agricultural use. It is rec...
Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge is a protected natural area located in northwestern Minnesota that was established in 2004. The refuge manages one of the largest tallgrass prairie and wetland restoration projects in the United States, reversing decades of agricultural drainage. It provides a...
The Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon is an annual point-to-point road race held in Minnesota, connecting the neighboring cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The event typically takes place in early October and follows a scenic route that passes through urban neighborhoods, along the Mississippi Rive...
Great River Bluffs State Park Goat Prairies are steep, dry, south-facing bluff prairies located within Great River Bluffs State Park in southeastern Minnesota. The park sits atop the Mississippi River bluffs and preserves fragments of native goat prairie habitat, which is characterized by thin soils...
The Coteau des Prairies is a prominent glacial plateau extending across parts of South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota. Composed primarily of glacial deposits, it rises distinctly above the surrounding flat plains and forms a geographic divide between the Red River valley and the Missouri River...
The Mill City Museum preserves the Washburn Flour Mill, a significant landmark in Minnesota’s history. It showcases the evolution of American milling from its establishment in 1880. The museum offers insights into the industrial processes that transformed grain into flour and is particularly valuabl...
Afton State Park is a Minnesota state park located along the St. Croix River in Washington County. The park encompasses rolling terrain along river bluffs and includes restored tallgrass prairie, oak savanna, and hardwood forest communities. Ongoing prairie restoration projects aim to re-establish n...
Grandma's Marathon is an annual 26.2-mile road race held in northeastern Minnesota that follows the scenic shore of Lake Superior from Two Harbors to Duluth. Established in 1977, the event was named after Grandma's Restaurant, a local Duluth eatery that served as one of the original race sponsors. T...
The Tallgrass Aspen Parkland is a transitional ecoregion spanning southeastern Manitoba and northwestern Minnesota along the Red River valley. It occupies a landscape shaped by glacial Lake Agassiz, producing level terrain with fertile clay soils and poorly drained depressions that support wetlands...
Whitewater State Park Goat Prairies in Minnesota are fragile, sun-drenched bluff ecosystems hosting rare prairie specialist species.
The Paul Bunyan’s Axe is a traditional trophy presented to the victor of the annual football game between the University of Wisconsin Badgers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers. This rivalry, dating back to 1890, represents one of college football's most intense contests. The axe symbolizes the longst...
Crow-Hassan Park Reserve contains an extensive restored prairie landscape in Hennepin County, Minnesota, managed by Three Rivers Park District. Its grasslands form part of a broader park reserve that also includes woodland, wetlands, trails, and habitat for native plants and wildlife. The prairie is...
The Jeffers Petroglyphs site in southwestern Minnesota preserves over 7,000 Native American rock carvings across a half-mile stretch of red Sioux quartzite. The carvings, made over a span of approximately 5,000 years, depict humans, atlatls, buffalo, deer, thunderbirds, and other figures associated...
Hole-in-the-Mountain Prairie Preserve is a tallgrass prairie reserve in southwestern Minnesota, United States, managed by The Nature Conservancy. It protects a tract of native grassland along the Buffalo Ridge in Lincoln County, supporting populations of prairie-dependent plants and grassland birds....
The Prairie Pothole Region encompasses parts of Canada, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. This area features a unique landscape of depressions, or potholes, formed by glacial activity. These wetlands are critically important for supporting vast populations of migratory waterfowl, primarily ducks and geese...
Ordway Prairie is a nature preserve located in Minnesota's glacial ridge region. Protected by The Nature Conservancy, it consists of mesic tallgrass prairie habitat, one of the most threatened ecosystems in North America. The preserve serves as a sanctuary for native prairie flora and fauna, includi...
Sax-Zim Bog is a large wetland and boreal landscape in northeastern Minnesota composed of peatlands, marshes, forests, meadows, and agricultural areas. It is widely known as a birding destination, particularly in winter, when visitors seek great gray owls, northern hawk owls, boreal chickadees, and...
The Twin Cities Marathon is an annual point-to-point road race held in Minnesota, connecting the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Established in 1982, the event takes place in early autumn and is noted for its course, which passes through residential neighborhoods, along lakes, and past cultura...
Seven Sisters Prairie is a Minnesota nature preserve situated on a chain of seven glacial hills, noted for its rare dry hill prairie and local wildlife.
The Faribault Woolen Mill is a historic textile manufacturer founded in 1865 in Minnesota, recognized nationally for its continuous production of high-quality wool blankets.
Red Lake Peatland is an extensive peat-forming wetland complex in northern Minnesota and one of the largest continuous peatlands in the contiguous United States. It contains raised bogs, fens, forested wetlands, and distinctive surface patterns produced by water flow and peat accumulation. Much of i...
Carley State Park Prairie in Minnesota features steep bluff prairies along the Whitewater River valley, known for spring wildflower blooms.
The Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota protects tallgrass prairies and wetlands along the Minnesota River valley.
The Little Brown Jug is the traveling trophy awarded to the winner of the college football game between the Michigan Wolverines and Minnesota Golden Gophers. Its origin is connected to a water jug used during the teams' 1903 game, after which Minnesota kept the jug and the schools established a trop...
Saint John's Abbey is an active Benedictine monastery located in Collegeville, Minnesota, founded by Benedictine monks in 1856. The campus is notable for its modernist architecture, including the Abbey Church and its prominent bell banner, designed by architect Marcel Breuer in the mid-20th century....
Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Fort Snelling National Cemetery was established in 1939 and serves as a major military burial ground for veterans from the Upper Midwest region.
