One of the oldest “dude ranches” in the state of North Dakota, Peaceful Valley Ranch started out as a simple cabin built in 1883 by Eldridge “Gerry” Paddock. Over the years, it changed hands and expanded, with the ranch house built circa 1885. After the Olsen family bought it in 1915, the ranch became a tourist destination, with guided horseback rides, camping, and roundups.

The ranch was sold to the federal government in 1936, and the house then served as headquarters for Civilian Conservation Corps, Works Progress Administration, and Emergency Relief Administration staff. When Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park was established in 1947, the ranch became the first park headquarters. After the new headquarters moved to Medora in 1959, a series of concessionaires ran guided horseback rides out of the ranch until 2014.

Today, the ranch buildings are still there, newly renovated. Standing on the boardwalk that stretches between the ranch house and the stable, one can feel transported back to a different time, to a frontier dude ranch in the badlands of North Dakota.