From restored homes to ‘glamping,’ S.D. offers experience-driven stays across 150 bed-and-breakfasts

Eileen Rossow presides over breakfast tables where the conversation flows as fast as the coffee.

The owner of Peregrine Pointe Bed & Breakfast in Rapid City for the past 25 years, Rossow listens as her vacationing guests give each other tips on where to go next and what attractions shouldn’t be missed.

Her long history in the Black Hills means she, too, can offer tips such as routes to take to avoid construction and local restaurants that offer can’t-miss cuisine.

The knowledge of innkeepers such as herself and guests’ willingness to share information is a hallmark of bed-and-breakfasts, Rossow said, and, with fall vacations in full swing and plans being made for next year’s vacations, B&Bs shouldn’t be overlooked as an option for a place to stay.

This likely will be Rossow’s last fall as Peregrine Pointe’s proprietor because she plans to retire and travel some. However, she currently leads the Bed and Breakfast Innkeepers of South Dakota, an association of about 15 members. About 150 B&Bs dot the state, Rossow estimates.

“A lot of the B&Bs have been taken over by younger people who are not organization joiners,” Rossow said. “With their media-savvy and that sort of thing, they probably do all right. The thing I found enjoyable about the association is the friendships and the camaraderie. And I learned a lot of recipes from the other B&Bs.”

That friendship and camaraderie carries over to guests. Peregrine Pointe averages 640 night stays a year, with guests booking for two or three nights. Rossow estimates she has met more than 12,000 people during her quarter-century as an innkeeper.

While Rossow is ending her career with B&Bs, Mackenzie Wright is only a few years into hers. She took over Dakota Dream Bed & Breakfast and Horse Hotel in December 2019 after working in law enforcement in North Dakota.

The 10-acre property includes the main house, “a true log cabin,” an A-frame and three star-gazing cabins. The latter have roofs that open on the deck, expanding the living space.

“It’s almost like glamping, but it’s not,” Wright explained. “You have a totally different experience. It’s just really neat.”

While the B&B is located near Custer, it’s remote enough that guests can watch deer and turkeys roam the grounds and enjoy the peaceful surroundings, Wright said.

Dakota Dream’s main house offers two rooms downstairs, the Bears Den and the Black Hills Room. Both have private bathrooms and access to a living room and outdoor patio with a grill. The former horse ranch-turned-bed and breakfast has expanded under her ownership with the cabins and A-frame.

It’s designed to help her guests make memories, Wright said.

“We all become family here,” she said. “It’s lovely having everybody come back. I’m not just here for a vacation — making memories is the more important part of it.”

Wright’s guests likely will leave with memories of the breakfasts she serves because she features nontraditional offerings. Horse-riding guests who were served pie for the morning meal last year returned in September with a mug that said, “pie for breakfast.” They feasted on blueberry pie this trip.

Other offerings could include taco soup or a curry shakshuka.

“You know people have the ranchero breakfast with black beans and tomatoes,” Wright said. “My taco soup really is like a soup, but I cook the eggs on top of it and add avocado. It’s a little untraditional.”

Wright switched from law enforcement to innkeeping with the birth of her daughter. Having her business be in her home means they can be together every day, she said. Dakota Dream is open year-round and can host wedding receptions and family reunions. That’s a way to help people realize bed-and-breakfasts aren’t just for their parents or grandparents, Wright said.

Like Rossow, Lyndy Ireland has years of experience operating a B&B. The owner of Triangle Ranch B&B near Philip is in her 26th year. Since the death of Ireland’s husband, Kenny, last October, daughter Nicole Nelson assists the B&B on the fourth-generation ranch where she grew up.

Ireland’s great-grandparents built the historic Sears & Roebuck house, which has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Mission Revival two-story stucco home is atypical of most ranch houses, Ireland said. It offers ornate crystal chandeliers and cut-glass cabinets.

“It was one of the fancier ones Sears offered,” she said. “The material came on two railroad cars, and everything was pre-cut.”

The B&B includes four private guest rooms and a carriage house that is part of the historic package.

Ireland worked several different jobs while her children were at home. That included serving as an activity coordinator for a nursing home and selling boots at Wall Drug. Operating a B&B means she no longer punches a timeclock but still interacts with people.

When she started, Triangle Ranch primarily was a summer business. Now, it’s open eight to nine months of the year, and Ireland has the option of offering winter retreats. Since Triangle Ranch is next to a national grasslands, Ireland often hosts hunters in the fall but does not offer guide services.

Through the B&B, Ireland has met people from around the world.

“It stretches your horizons,” she said. “My parents raised us not to sit in a bubble, and this is a great way to be an armchair traveler and to learn about the rest of the world.”

Since Triangle Ranch has such a long history, its rooms emphasize the heroines in each generation of Ireland’s family. She named Grace’s Room after the great-grandmother who lived in a dugout and log cabin before picking out her final home from a Sears catalogue. Ireland honors the grandmother who came to western South Dakota to teach in a country school with Esther’s Room. Louisa’s Room salutes Ireland’s mother, Louisa Williams, and her Irish heritage.

“And Matilda’s Room is named after a homestead heroine lady. She proved up on her own homestead as a single girl,” Ireland said. “We have her beautiful crazy quilt that portrays the history of settling in this area.”

The men in Ireland’s family aren’t left out—the carriage house is a tribute to her father Vint Williams, “a wonderful cowboy,” and her late husband’s rodeo years.

More and more of her guests are millennials who want to visit nearby attractions but set aside a good part of their day to relax, Ireland said.

“We’re at the end of 8 miles of road, so people are pretty wide-eyed when they arrive,” Ireland said. “But they catch on quickly. Our mission is to host people and let them be exposed to the peace and serenity of the prairie in South Dakota and let them know there’s still places like this.”

Tripadvisor has honored Triangle Ranch, and Midwest Living magazine featured its breakfasts in a 2009 story. Sitting at Ireland’s table on a fall morning could mean dining on a crustless quiche she calls lazy-morning sausage pie, sour cream blueberry muffins or raspberry cream French toast.

At the Steever House B&B northeast of Lennox, owner John Steever keeps a well-stocked refrigerator so he can offer his guests a full hot breakfast. That will include freshly ground or pressed coffee or tea, fresh fruit, muffins, scones or turnovers and an entree that includes meat, eggs and perhaps pancakes or something similar.

“If you’re staying two days, you will not get the same thing two days in a row,” Steever said. “And there’s no secret supplier — I make everything from scratch. And the recipes, if people want them, they can have them. I believe recipes are meant to be shared.”

John and Sara Steever have operated their bed-and-breakfast in a restored 1910 Victorian house for 25 years. They moved into the house in 1994, and it took about three years to get it in shape for guests. It officially opened in June 1997.

Before the Steevers could move in, however, they had to move the house itself.

“We picked it up and moved it from rural route Gayville, South Dakota, and it’s now rural route Lennox, South Dakota,” Steever said. “The move was about 70 miles. My wife fell in love with the house. It didn’t start out as an idea to become a B&B. She wanted to move out to the country. We were both raised on farms.”

Sara Steever suggested operating a B&B. The couple stayed at a half-dozen bed-and-breakfasts to determine what they liked and didn’t like and to see if they could imagine doing it themselves. Turns out, they could.

“If it doesn’t work out, this would still be our home,” John Steever said. “It turned out we enjoyed the business a great deal.”

Steever had previous experience in the restaurant industry, so he knew he enjoyed hospitality, food and people. A B&B innkeeper must, however, learn to become comfortable with the idea of strangers coming into their house.

“It’s just the nature of the business,” Steever said.

An estimated 20,000 people have stayed at the Steever B&B since it opened. The Steevers operate the business full time but guard personal time and holidays. That keeps operating a B&B fresh, Steever said.

“Our occupancy rate is enough for us, but it wouldn’t impress a hotel chain so much,” he said. “While I really enjoy customers staying with us, we need to take personal time for vacations and projects.”

When the Steevers travel, it’s a mix of staying at B&Bs and quality hotels. If they’re driving late and getting up early, a hotel best meets their needs. If they have time to enjoy the setting, they prefer a B&B.

Airbnb and Vrbo rentals have drawn away some business from B&Bs, but their visitors find what they want at a Queen Anne Victorian in a parklike country setting that offers hospitality and “a killer breakfast,” Steever said. And this is the time of year they want it.

“September and October are typically our busiest times,” Steever said. “Yes, summer is busy and you might think that things would start to wane after Labor Day. But it’s the last shot before weather starts getting a little bit iffy. And after the harvest is in, farmers think they can take a break and come see us.”

Here are some other B&Bs in South Dakota you might enjoy visiting:

The Lincoln House Bed & Breakfast, Stickney: The Lincoln House B&B opened as a hotel in the early 1900s, giving train travelers sleeping rooms for overnight stays, said innkeeper and owner Deb Dethlefsen. It offered living quarters on the main level and housed Stickney’s only doctor until 1942. The structure has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The hotel was renovated to restore it to its natural beauty from 100 years ago, and Dethlefsen remodeled it to install four bathrooms. In its original form, it had eight sleeping rooms upstairs, one bathroom and an outhouse in the back near the alley. Dethlefsen had that destroyed after wind blew it over multiple times.

Today, The Lincoln House offers eight bedrooms, six bathrooms, an office, parlor, living room, dining room and small kitchen.

Breakfast includes farm-fresh eggs. How fresh? Dethlefsen tends to a flock of 80 chickens at her home south of White Lake. Guests also enjoy farm-fresh bacon or sausage, hash browns, pancakes or French toast, or biscuits and gravy, served with fresh fruit juice and coffee.

The Farr House, Pierre: Ashley Boone owns and operates The Farr House, where she lives with her husband, Kevin Kumpf, and her mother, Sherry Boone. Kumpf has his own consulting business and works from home. They moved in just over a year ago.

“We purchased the house after my dad died in 2020 so we could be closer together,” Boone said. Her mother lives part time in Rapid City, but they share the common project of keeping up The Farr House and welcoming guests.

The Farr House has historic significance to Pierre but also to the state. It was home to U.S. Sen. Peter Norbeck and his family when he was South Dakota’s governor from 1917 to 1921.

“We really enjoy sharing the history of the house with guests as well as our artsy decor,” Boone said.

Although The Farr House is a bed-and-breakfast, it doesn’t serve a morning meal. Its guests are traveling on vacation or are in Pierre for work and rise early to head out, Boone said. People do enjoy the Kind bars, Fairlife protein shakes and Mighty Missouri Coffee Co. drinks that are provided.

1899 Inn, Deadwood: Owners Nyla and Tom Griffith purchased the Queen Anne mansion in 2020. The previous owners, their son and daughter-in-law, spent countless hours and lots of money restoring it over 14 years.

“She is a grand old lady,” Nyla Griffith said.

The Griffiths made numerous improvements themselves, and they now have an owners’ apartment in the lower level. H.B. Wardman and his wife, Katherine, built the mansion in 1899.

The first-floor Old Library offers a queen bed once owned by Henry Frawley, the first attorney in the area. His law library also is housed in this rom.

The Master Suite includes a second-floor balcony and sitting room with a newly renovated private bathroom. Also on the second floor is the Mistress’s Chamber with a more feminine decor. The two rooms can be connected.

Other second-floor rooms include the Writing Room and Maid’s Room. The third-floor Attic Suite offers what Griffith describes as “the most luxurious private bathroom you will ever find in any lodging accommodations.”

Two two-bedroom cottages are located just steps from the mansion. Renovated in 1925, they include a kitchen and living area and private front porch.

All rooms and cottages include a full hot breakfast served in the formal dining room. Griffith sets the table with vintage china and table service.