Here is what I found there.
A journey to New Hradec starts in the town of Dickinson,
where you take exit 61 from I-94
and drive north on the road 22 until - after 10 miles or so -
you come to this lovely sign
(if you are coming from the opposite direction, you will find a
similar sign there)
When I was planning my trip, I was worried that the last stretch of the road
would be some rugged dirt road,
but the road from the above intersection was paved all the way to New Hradec.
Not surprisingly, most of the land around New Hradec is a prairie,
although hints of agriculture
may be detected as well.
Unlike many rural settlements, which are unmarked, New Hradec won't leave you
in doubts whether you have reached your final destination.
(here is the welcome sign from
a slightly wider angle)
The streets in New Hradec are NOT paved
and they smoothly segue into a network of
dirt roads that criss cross the prairie.
If you type "New Hradec, ND" into Google Maps, you will find that the two main
streets run horizontally from east to west,
forming the southern and northern boundaries.
The two main streets are connected by several
shorter dirt roads.
They all have names though,
and if you are so inclined you can google-map them.
The main attraction in New Hradec is a Catholic church that has been designated
an official Czech Heritage site.
Inside the church you will find -
among other things - this banner and a guest book.
This grotto dedicated to Holy Mary lies
just outside of the church.
This is the school building which shares the parking lot with the church.
A place where kids from New Hradec can learn about its more famous brethren -
New York and New Orleans.
According to one of the locals, there is a dance night
in this building every weekend (just two blocks east from the church).
Just behind this building there is also a
small playground and a picnic area.
(by the way, the locals pronounce the name of their town "radek"
- yep, no "h")
The original settlers moved into the area in 1860s and many are buried
in a fairly large cemetery behind the church.
Most names here have clearly a Czech origin and some tombstones even
have Czech inscriptions.
The cemetery ends with a World War II. memorial.
North Dakota is in the middle of an oil boom and from the above memorial
you can actually see one of the oil wells.
(too bad there are no oil wells around Hradec Kralove - I bet the oil revenues
would significantly speed up the reconstruction of that monstrous soccer stadium)
Leaving New Hradec is not the end of the Czech experience in North Dakota.
If you have time, you can also visit the Czech Heritage Museum in Dickinson.
Just cross over I-94 on your way back and take a left turn into the Museum Drive.
After the intersection (on the photo) the Museum Center
will be about 1/4 mile on your left.
(if you see this church , you went too far)
The Museum Center consists of two separate entities:
the Dinosaur Museum
obviously devoted to prehistoric reptiles
and Joachim's Regional Museum which honors the many
cultures that found its home on the prairie.
The Regional Museum is really
a sequence of buildings,
each devoted to a particular aspect of the pioneer way of life.
The building that commemorates the Czech settlers in North Dakota
is styled as a "Czech Town Hall"
and includes the Czech welcome both
inside and
outside (above the door).
To keep in touch with their native culture, the settlers brought
with them a few national costumes.
(and this is a magazine for
Czech Catholic women in America)
You may have noticed on the above photo that the whole room is
lined with black and white photographs.
Those are old
marriage photos
of members of the Czech community.
Although the museum is devoted to the Czech heritage in general, vast majority
of its display deals with the history of New Hradec.
(here is the list of priests serving in the
New Hradec church)
In Czech there is a saying "Co Cech, to muzikant" (Every Czech is a musician)
so a large part of the exposition
is devoted to various
musical ensembles
that the Czech settlers established in their new homeland.
And this is my favorite item: three books exemplifying the connection
of the settlers to their old country.
(left to right: Czech Grammar, Catechism and Biblical History)
Hradec Kralove (history)
(external link to a brief history of "Old Hradec")
Hradec Kralove (photos)
(photographs I took several years ago in "Old Hradec")
Postřehy z cesty do Nového Hradce
(in Czech)
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