Sometimes, things are literal. We scheduled a stop at Pipestone National Monument because it was along our route. So what’s this one about? A stone quarry that native people used to carve out pipes…
That said, the land is considered sacred by native americans, and only federally recognized tribes can get permits to quarry the stone, which lies under a thick layer of hard quartz stone, that needs to first be removed, and by tradition, all that work is done by hand and not using heavy machinery.
The visitor center’s video says the pipe (chanunpa) is considered a sacred object to the same level as the cross is a sacerd object to Christians (!)
