Oldham: Discover Nature and Local History

Oldham is a destination where nature and local history coexist: from here, you have access to nearby lakes and recreation areas suited to fishing, hunting, and exploring nature. At the same time, the town’s history tells of an opera house, Socialist Hall, and other traces of community life. These themes offer different perspectives for a trip: lakes and recreation areas take center stage outdoors, while the cultural trail leads to historic venues. When looking for a vacation rental in Oldham, you can therefore consider whether nature activities or local history should shape your stay more strongly.

Landscape around Lake Thompson

A distinctive natural area nearby is Lake Thompson. Its southern shore lies about six miles west of Oldham. Around the lake, open water alternates with shallow mudflats, extensive cattail marshes, and surrounding wet meadows. These habitats can support numerous waterbird and land bird species. Lake Thompson is therefore interesting not only for its open water: wet meadows, mudflats, and reed beds also form part of the landscape and the habitat the lake provides. Those interested in different types of wetlands and bird species will find a specific connection to nature here when planning their trip.

Oldham Grade, a road that was once flooded, runs along the southern edge of Lake Thompson. This detail about the road adds a specific local-history element to the natural landscape, while remaining tied to the lake’s southern edge.

Venues and local history

Oldham’s cultural history extends beyond a single venue. Oldham had an operating opera house even before Socialist Hall was built. In 1912, a hall was erected in memory of the Socialist Party. After it was built, both the former opera house and Socialist Hall offered the community a variety of entertainment and shared activities.

Lawrence Welk’s first stage performance took place in the 1920s in this building in Oldham, when he was still young and largely unknown. The history of the building is thus connected to an early moment in his stage career.

The former Socialist Hall is now located on the grounds of Prairie Village in South Dakota. There it provides the South Dakota State University Summer Repertory Theatre with a venue for summer plays. The historic location in Oldham and the current performance venue in Prairie Village are therefore different stages in the history of the same hall.

The Lorik, Peterson Heritage House Museum also adds to the picture of local history. It brought a rural school from Spring Lake District 8 to town. This extends the story beyond the performance venues to include a rural school and the district’s educational history.

Nature or culture as your focus

When choosing a location for your vacation rental, it helps to distinguish between the themes: Oldham offers access to nearby lakes and recreation areas for fishing, hunting, and exploring nature. The cultural-history trail of Socialist Hall begins in Oldham, but its current performance venue is in Prairie Village. If you are especially interested in the summer plays, Prairie Village is the place to look for the current performance venue.

Discover more destinations: De Smet.

Go to the broader travel overview: Kingsbury County.