Fort Ridgely — Attraction in New Ulm

Not a bad park for middle of nowhere southern Minnesota. I bring my horses here every once in a while for a change of scenery and it's only a 90 minute drive.

The horse trail system is confusing and is not well marked. We somehow ended up on a paved multiuse trail along the highway and through what appeared to be private property. Was on the map, but was not very scenic since it's basically a road ditch. Also 2- 3 miles of gravel road ditch trails from main park to horse camp...

The road going into the park has a very sharp angled turn and near a curve which blocks view of oncoming traffic. Very nerve-wracking when pulling a trailer which requires wide turns!

The park is, however, very well maintained and has a lot of water access points and vault toilets throughout. The day use area is by a well maintained cemetery.

I think this would be a great park for hiking and has a lot of Dakota War history. Bugs were not bad during my last visit (drought) but have been hit or miss...

Fort Ridgely is an epic fort in the history of Minnesota. It's a great stop for history buffs. The Sioux Uprising/Dakota War story is well represented here. There are several more sites scattered around the area as well. It's a nice little park with easy trails and good services. A long day trip from the Twins or a stop on the way to someplace else but not really a destination for the...

Very interesting with many plaques and descriptions of the buildings and events and what took place. Make this part of your 1862 Uprising Historical Tour. After seeing the fort, I recommend you go west to the Morton area, see the Lower Sioux Agency, Birch Coulee Battlefield, Redwood Ferry, there are so many cool historical places to see regarding this...