The Maltese Cross Cabin is the small log house Theodore Roosevelt lived in during his Badlands years in the 1880s. It now sits beside the South Unit Visitor Center in Medora, having been moved repeatedly before settling here. The interior preserves several of Roosevelt's original possessions, including his writing desk, travel trunk, and a hair-trimmed buffalo robe.
The building itself is striking for how plain it is. Three rooms, an iron stove, a steep ladder to the loft where the ranch hands slept. Free to enter as part of the visitor centre, which also has good displays on the Badlands' geology and Roosevelt's conservation legacy. Allow 20–30 minutes.