Swett

Swett is in the Badlands and Black Hills region of South Dakota, 110 miles from Rapid City.

Understand

An unincorporated hamlet in Bennett County about two hours southeast of Rapid City, Swett consists of a bar, workshop, three trailers and a single house on 6.16 acres of land. Its population has dropped from 40 people in the 1940s to two people and a dog today.

Get in

By car: Swett is on US Highway 18 near Martin, South Dakota.

Do

• Hunting for game such as ring-neck pheasant, giant Canada goose, deer, elk, buffalo, prairie dogs and turkeys.

Buy

Buy the whole town. $400,000 would allow the couple and their dog to relocate out-of-state.

Eat

A grocery store had been in operation in the village, but is now closed.

Drink

• 1 Swett Tavern, 20704 US Highway 18, ☏ +1 605 685-6499. A gathering place for local cowboys and wheatgrowers. This tavern and the Boondocks Bar & Grill in Martin are the only bars in a ten-mile area. 

Sleep

There is nothing in Swett itself. The county seat, Martin (pop. 1100), has one motel - the Crossroads Inn and annex (+1 605 685-1070).

Connect

There once was a post office in the local grocery store, but both have now closed.

Go next

• Mount Rushmore National Memorial and Crazy Horse Memorial, both near Custer (130 miles away).
• Badlands National Park, fifty miles north of the village, contains the largest, protected mixed grass prairie in the United States.

Routes through Swett

Hot Springs ← Pine Ridge ←

W  E

→ Rosebud → Jct N S