Tuesday: the sun was out and it was warming up to over 50 deg. F during the day. The drive to Watertown only took us an hour. Our first stop was at the Redlin Art Center, a prominent temple-like building with colums and on a little hill surrounded by a large park. The museum is dedicated to one single artist and this artist himself financed and planned it: Terry Redlin (1937-2016) is one of America’s most celebrated outdoor artists. He is one of the country's most widely collected painters of wildlife and Americana. I have to admit that on first glimpse the paintings appeared a bit "kitschy" to me, but looking closer it's fascinating to see all the little details in the paintings and the unusual use of light.
Redlin, who was born on a farm, loved rural America. At the beginning he mostly painted wildlife scenes. At age 15, he lost one of his legs after a motorcycle accident, but, thanks to a scholarship for disabled students, he was able to go attend college. He studied graphic design and layout and worked in different jobs, for an architectural and engineering firm as a draftsman, for a publishing house as a designer and he moved back and forth from Minneapolis to Watertown before he became a full-time artist in 1977. From wildlife paintings he switched to Americana in 1986 - and included people in his pictures.
He sold prints (and originals before 1984) for increasingly high prices. Especially his "America the Beautiful" series (pic) in 1990 brought him enormous popularity (and wealth). With the Redlin Art Center, which opened in 1997 in Watertown, Redlin was giving back to his hometown. Because of Alzheimer's he retired in 2007 and passed away in 2016. The architecture and interior are absolutely stunning: massive brick, 38-foot white granite columns, polished granite throughout the Center, stone imported from India and Africa - and it's free to the public.
Having some time before our next tour, we explored the historic downtown with old buildings like the Goss Opera House. This historic theater dating in 1889, is supposed to reopen in 2019. We admired the public artwork (pics above) and got some good coffee at "Gather", a cozy little coffeehouse with its own bakery, and talked to the owner of the great DDR (new-used-rare) bookstore. As long as there is a coffee shop, a used-bookstore and a brewery, nothing can go wrong with a town.
The Mellette House, our next visit, was built in 1885 by Arthur Calvin Mellette, last governor of Dakota Territory and First Governor of South Dakota. The house has been restored and furnished with original and time pieces, family portraits and heirlooms. Arthur Mellette was born in Indiana in 1842 and lived in this home with his wife Maggie and four sons. They moved to the area ("nowhere land" at the time) in 1878 and built an Italianate home on Prospect Hill in Watertown. Mellette was interested in having Dakota Territory enter the Union as two separate states, South Dakota and North Dakota and that happened on Nov. 2, 1889, when North and South Dakota entered the Union as the 39th and 40th states. He died on May 25, 1896 at the age of 53 years.
At Dempsey’s Brewery, Restaurant & Pub we met with Katherine from the local CVB and spent a great evening. Dempsey’s is an Irish-style pub, they brew their own beer, offer brick-oven pizzas and have regularly live music and other events and specials. We met the founder, Bill Dempsey, who had opened the place in 1999, now they are the 2nd oldest brewery in South Dakota. Bill is not only the "Official Bag Piper of South Dakota" (he gave us a demonstration!), but his mother was Austrian (his dad Irish), and, surprise!, he was stationed in Augsburg in the 1960ies for a couple of years. He revisits regularly, speaks some German and showed us Augsburg pics.
After a brewery tour and tasting - their "Open Door" Flagship IPA was my favorite! - we got a pizza demonstration by Bill's son (and owner of the restaurant now) Sean. He is the "Pizza Wizard of Oz", has won several prizes at different pizza competitions in the U.S. and is SD's only certified pizzaiola and a member of the United States Pizza Team. He even regularly takes part at competitions in Italy. His principle is not to overload pizzas like Americans usually do. The pizza which came out of the double-decker New York brick oven for us to try was just perfect.
Lateron we tried one of the specialities his dad had introduced: Wienerschnitzel & "Spatzel" (there is also Jagerschnitzel) and it was a culinary delight.
Another great local operation is the Glacial Lakes Distillery, where we visited with co-owner Philipp Klein. They get their grains from local farmers and monitor every step of the agricultural process. They started with their glacial lakes vodka, hand-crafted and in small batches, but in the meantime they also produce great rum and gin and started with brandy and bourbon - all done in a simple warehouse!
Though it became later than expected, it's been an interesting and fun evening. We stayed in a roomy suite in the Country Inn and Suites for the night, where we could spread out, had two TVs and a bathtub!
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