Travel just 15-20 minutes east out of Yankton to nearby city Vermillion to see the Austin-Whittemore House Museum, a home that was built atop a bluff along the river after a disastrous flood swept three-fourths of the town away in 1881.
Admission is free to this stately 1883 Italian villa filled with Victorian furnishings. This house is the home of the Clay County Historical Society and holds many historical records and documents from this area, also offering genealogy services.
The Austin-Whittemore House is open Mon-Fri and by appointment. It can be found at 15 Austin Street in Vermillion, SD. Call 605-624-8266.