Residents of the South Dakota town of Leola decided to call it the “Rhubarb Capital of the World” as something of a joke, but the name has stuck. Leola’s Rhubarb Festival started in 1971 as an annual baking contest. Since then, the festival has grown to include parades, music, a rhubarb queen, and all the rhubarb you can eat.

Born in Jamestown, North Dakota, in 1908, Louis L’Amour achieved fame as the best-selling author of more than 100 novels, most of them set on the Western frontier. He wrote under several pseudonyms, until his novel “Hondo” was made into a movie starring John Wayne. In 1983, he became the first novelist to receive a Congressional Gold Medal.

In 1939, Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziółkowski envisioned a giant statue of Crazy Horse, a Lakota war leader, to be carved into the side of Thunderhead Mountain. Ziółkowski began work on the monument in 1947 and continued until his death in 1982. His children and grandchildren have continued his work. Once completed, the Crazy Horse Memorial will be the largest mountain carving in the world.

Producing 28.33 million pounds of honey annually, North Dakota far outpaces even its nearest honey competitor (South Dakota). Beekeepers will often travel to the state with their bee colonies, allowing them to take advantage of the sunflower crops and wild flowers. It is estimated that the bee population in the state often outnumbers the human population.

Lebanon, Kansas, has long claimed to be the geographic center of the U.S., despite having been appointed so under less-than-scientific circumstances. Even if it had been close to the center when declared in 1918, that was later complicated by the addition of Hawaii and Alaska to the Union. The real geographic center is some 15 miles outside of the South Dakota city of Belle Fourche, near the Black Hills.

While English is the most spoken language in every state in the U.S., there is only one state where German is the second-most spoken language: North Dakota. It’s estimated that more than 8,000 North Dakotans speak German at home, and as many as one-third of the state’s residents know the language. North Dakota attracted large numbers of German immigrants in the early 1900s, and the cultural influence remains strong.

Super 8 Motels got their start in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Local attorney Dennis Brown had noticed the growing popularity of the Motel 6 chain while he was traveling and decided start a similar chain of budget accommodations for business travelers. He partnered with realtor Ron Rivett, and they opened their first hotel in 1974.

Even for the rough frontier, Martha Jane Canary was not the most genteel of women. She drank beer, chewed tobacco, dressed as a man, and was reportedly quite the sharpshooter. Whether the latter skill truly earned her the moniker “Calamity Jane” or whether she created that herself remains a mystery. She helped nurse the residents of Deadwood through the smallpox epidemic and was buried next to fellow legend Wild Bill Hickok after her death in 1903.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park lies where vast prairie grasslands meet the rugged rocky outcrops of the Badlands. The park’s namesake first came to North Dakota in 1883, and the trip would be a defining moment in Roosevelt’s life, helping to shape his views on nature preservation that led him to be nicknamed the "conservationist president."

Formerly known as Harney Peak, Black Elk Peak was renamed in 2016 in honor of a Oglala Lakota holy figure. Rising to 7,242 feet, Black Elk Peak is the highest mountain east of the Rocky Mountains. It is a popular hiking destination for visitors to Custer State Park. On a clear day, the peak offers views of the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, and Nebraska.

North Dakota boasts several large animal statues. The world’s largest buffalo monument, Dakota Thunder, stands atop a hill overlooking Jamestown. Completed in 1959, the concrete statue is 26 feet tall. In New Salem, you can find Salem Sue, a 38-foot-tall Holstein cow (the world’s largest) that pays tribute to the dairy farmers who settled the region.

Billed as “the World’s Only Corn Palace,” this landmark has been attracting tourists to Mitchell, South Dakota, since it opened in 1892. The palace was originally created as a community showcase for the local corn harvest. It grew in size and popularity until a permanent palace was completed in 1921. Each year, the building is decorated inside and out with elaborate murals made of corn.

North Dakota shares a border with three other U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Unsurprisingly, South Dakota lies to the south. Meanwhile, Montana is on the state’s western border, and Minnesota is to the east. In Canada, both Saskatchewan and Manitoba share a border with North Dakota.

As ranchers settled the vast plains of North and South Dakota, their everyday tasks of roping and riding developed into local entertainment and competitions. Today, rodeos attract thousands of spectators across the Dakotas, and it was named the official state sport of South Dakota in 2003. Rodeo is also the state sport of Texas and Wyoming.

North Dakota has 74 National Wildlife Refuges, more than any other state. Many of the state’s refuges are nesting and migratory sites for a wide variety of bird species. Chase Lake, near Woodworth, has one of the nation’s largest nesting colonies of American white pelicans, with as many as 35,000 nesting here during peak season.

The vast plains of North and South Dakota were originally home to the Sioux, a group of Native American peoples who shared a similar language. Peoples of the Sioux included the Teton, the Lakota, and the Blackfoot tribes. The name of the Dakota territories (and eventually the two states) came from the Dakota people and means “friend.”

Located in the Black Hills of southwestern South Dakota, Mount Rushmore features the giant heads of four former Presidents carved into the side of the mountain: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. The monument was finished in 1939, and each profile measures approximately 60 feet tall.

Opened in 1932, North Dakota’s International Peace Garden is located along the state’s border with Canada. The Garden claims to be the longest unguarded border in the world and is a symbol of peace between the U.S. and its northern neighbor. In 1956, the nickname “The Peace Garden State” began to appear on license plates. It was so popular that it became the state’s official nickname the following year.

The Missouri River winds its way through the center of South Dakota, providing water drainage for most of the state. Its tributaries include the Big Sioux, Cheyenne, and White Rivers. The Missouri is nicknamed the Big Muddy due to the large amount of silt — much of it the result of erosion in the Badlands — that enters the river as it flows through South Dakota.

South Dakota is home to five national parks, monuments, and other nationally recognized sites of interest: Badlands National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, and Wind Cave National Park. Death Valley National Park, on the other hand, is located in California and Nevada.

Located in the south-central part of North Dakota on the Missouri River, Bismarck became the capital of the Dakota Territory in 1883. In 1889, the territory was divided into two parts. Both were later admitted into the Union, with Bismarck remaining the capital of North Dakota. Originally established as Edwinton in 1872, the city was renamed one year later after German leader Otto von Bismarck, a move aimed to attract German investment.