Black Hills National Forest, SD

Place: Black Hills National Forest, SD
Weather: Mostly Sunny, 58/79F
Route: From Scotts Bluff National Monument 191 miles north on US-26 W, NE-71 N, US-385 N, SD-79 N, SD-40 W.

Significance: People have been living in the Black Hills for 11,500 years. Its written history started in the mid-1700's when the Lakota moved west from Minnesota. It was a place of spiritual importance for Native Americans. In the 1850's-60's the Lakota were generally successful in fighting other tribes in the area and the U.S. Army. In 1868 the U.S. government decided that there needed to be a new treaty in order to stop the violence occurring regularly in the area.
The 1868 Treaty of Laramie, whose signatories included the famous civil war general William Tecumseh Sherman, stated that the Black Hills would be protected from European settlement "forever." Well, "forever" lasted about 6 years until a U.S. Army expedition led by George Armstrong Custer discovered gold there.
The Black Hills War, which included the defeat of Custer at Little Bighorn, was eventually a victory for the U.S. government. By 1877 the Lakota had surrendered - however they never accepted the U.S. takeover of the Black Hills and in 1980 the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. government had illegally taken the Black Hills from the Lakota.  However the court ordered a payment, rather than the return of land - which the Lakota did not accept.
The Black Hills are best known to most Americans as the home of Mt. Rushmore. The area also includes an unfinished monument to the Lakota leader Crazy Horse, the "wild west" town of Deadwood, and the motorcycle mecca of Sturgis.

Website: Black Hills National Forest

Images: 

Needles formation (from blackhillsbadlands.com)

Mt. Rushmore (from blackhillsbadlands.com)