DC Booth Historic Fish Hatchery 4.8 (reviews)

The DC Booth Historic Fish Hatchery is one of the oldest hatcheries operating in the country - so that's pretty impressive already before you even arrive!

It's a place where kids can get lost in nature, learn about wildlife, explore a fascinating museum, and go back in time through history. And one of the best thing about the day? It's FREE! You can't get much better than that!

The DC Booth Historic Fish Hatchery dates back all the way to 1898, and started as a way to increase the trout populations in the South Dakota and Wyoming Black Hills.

A visit to the museum will see kids learning all about how the rich history is preserved, and what life was really like for those American fishery workers. There are great historic objects too, that have been collected and preserved, so kids can really engage in the stories they are learning about, and the people they are encountering.

Make sure you stop at the Booth House, which is a neo-colonial revival dating back to 1905, and was built for the first superintendent! It's open for tours, where you can learn even more about the history of the house, as well as those families who called it home during their working days at the hatchery.

Kids - there is a railcar too! Before the refrigerated tanker trucks took the fish across the country, the fish hatcheries used these railcars from around 1920, and took the fish across 2 million miles of tracks - pretty impressive!

The Yellowstone Boat gives you a glimpse at how the fish were transported through Yellowstone National Park, and the grounds themselves span 10 acres, so there is plenty of nature to enjoy including rock walls, ponds, and water systems - all part of the history!

And of course, there are the fish! With up to 30,000 trout stocked every year, kids can have a great time getting up close and personal to them, feeding them and observing them.

It's a FISHY day for all at the DC Booth Historic Fish Hatchery - a fun day out for all!