Discover Aurora County

Aurora County combines distinctive architectural history with wetlands, lakes, and seasonal nature observations. Those planning a trip with varied interests can combine culture, landscapes, and outdoor activities here. When choosing a vacation rental, it is worth first determining your preferred focus: Plankinton offers several historic points of interest, while nature observation and fishing take center stage at various named bodies of water and protected areas.

Landscapes and Nature Observation

Fish Lake is a 420-acre Game Production Area with a lake surrounded by smaller wetlands and grassland. Humphrey WPA and Humphrey Slough GPA form a 900-acre area with a lake, marsh, a shelterbelt of deciduous trees, flooded cottonwoods, grassland, and farmland. These different landscapes each add a distinct accent to your trip planning and make clear that Aurora County can be explored not only through individual attractions but also through a variety of nature-related themes.

The 800-acre Maine WPA offers seasonal birdwatching opportunities: shorebirds can be observed there in April and May as well as in August and September. During migration, sandhill cranes can also be seen in the fields of western Aurora County. If you choose your vacation rental based on your travel dates rather than only on a general place name, these periods can play an important role in your planning.

Plankinton and the County’s Historic Side

In Plankinton, the Aurora County Historical Museum is one block from the Aurora County Courthouse. The three-story, rectangular courthouse, built of cast-in-place concrete, combines elements of Art Deco and Art Moderne. The ACHS museums include five historic buildings as well as a main entrance with an office; exhibits include objects, written and oral traditions, land descriptions, and a document library.

The Sweep-VanDyke Railroad Museum & Cultural Center is being restored under the direction of the Plankinton Preservation Society. The Sweep Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. East of Plankinton in Aurora County, the Raesly House is also located there, an excellent example of a subtype of the Queen Anne style with a hipped roof and lower cross-gabled dormers. It was built around 1883 by Marian and Josephine Raesly.

The Underwood United Methodist Church also tells the story of the region’s architectural history. It was built in 1908 and altered in 1920. The church is located in Aurora County, ten miles north of White Lake, and has an octagonal bell tower with eight openings in Gothic pointed-arch forms.

Fishing, Parks, and Excursion Routes

Recreational options include Pool Side Park in Plankinton, with the city’s large public swimming pool, as well as Westside Park, with a picnic shelter, shaded areas, and playground equipment. Historic Jail Pond is stocked with fish and offers opportunities for family fishing; shore fishing for northern pike and channel catfish is possible at the same body of water. At Wilmarth Lake, you can fish from the shore for largemouth bass, sunfish, perch, walleye, and channel catfish. Crystal Lake offers shore fishing for channel catfish and perch, while Patton Dam offers rainbow trout and channel catfish.

For a longer excursion, the Spring and Fall Driving Loop leads from Mitchell via Fish Lake GPA and White Lake to Maine WPA, then back to Mitchell or onward to Broken Arrow WPA. If you would like to combine several nature and cultural themes, take this route into account, along with the seasonal observation opportunities, when choosing your vacation rental and dividing your trip by dates.

Additional Places for Your Planning

As a direct local reference, you can also include Plankinton. Other destinations for comparing your vacation plans include Brule County, Jerauld County, Roberts County, Fall River County, Spink County, Perkins County, and Lyman County.

For the broader travel overview: South Dakota.