Maltese Cross Cabin - Theodore Roosevelt National Park

The Maltese Cross cabin was built for Roosevelt in 1883-1884 on the Chimney Butte Ranch located about seven miles south of Medora. The cabin is rather unusual as it has a wooden floor, kitchen, living room and Roosevelt's bedroom, and a sleeping loft for the cattlemen. After losing over half of his cattle during the winter of 1886-1887, Roosevelt began selling off his interest in both the Chimney Butte Ranch and the Elkhorn Ranch. The Maltese Cross cabin was disassembled and shipped to St. Louis for the 1904 World's Fair for display. From there, it was shipped to Portland, Oregon for the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. It spent time in Fargo and then Bismark, North Dakota before the state donated it to the National Park Service in 1959. It was erected in its current location behind the South Unit visitor center in 1960-1961. Much of the cabin is original, but the furnishings are mostly period items acquired by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The traveling trunk in the bedroom is original. We visited in May 2021.

Maltese Cross cabin

Front

Kitchen (left) end

Rear

Part of the kitchen

Part of the living room

More of the kitchen

Roosevelt's bedroom

An entry fee of $30 per vehicle, $25 per motorcycle, or $15 per person is valid for seven consecutive days at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Other fee payment options include the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands passes including the Annual Pass ($80), Senior Pass ($80 for a lifetime), Access Pass (free with a documented disability), and Military Annual Pass (free for active-duty personnel). Also available is a Theodore Roosevelt National Park Annual Park Pass for $55.

The Theodore Roosevelt National Park website is https://www.nps.gov/thro/index.htm.