Memorial Team Ice Cream

Heading into my visit to Mount Rushmore, ice cream wasn’t exactly at the top of my mind but I had heard about the famous Thomas Jefferson Vanilla and knew I had to try it. During our afternoon visit, I ordered one scoop of Thomas Jefferson Vanilla and one scoop of chocolate. The vanilla flavor truly surprised me, it had a richness and depth that really stood out. I’m usually not a big fan of vanilla, but this one was exceptional. The chocolate was also very good and paired well with it. We returned the following evening for the nighttime program, and I couldn’t resist going back for more. That time, I had one scoop of Thomas Jefferson Vanilla and one scoop of strawberry, both were excellent. The portions were generous, and while prices are a bit higher, it’s understandable given the location. Tip: If you’re looking for a fun, inexpensive souvenir, you can purchase the recipe for Thomas Jefferson Vanilla ice cream for just $1. Visiting Mount Rushmore is an experience in itself, but enjoying some ice cream while taking in the views definitely made it even sweeter.

We had to try the Thomas Jefferson ice cream and it was absolutely delicious! Now every time we visit Mt. Rushmore we have to get ice cream. We have tried almost every flavor and they are all delicious! (Sorry, I took the pictures part way through eating)

Yummy ice cream! I tried the choco-mint flavor and it was fantastic. The line was pretty long, but totally worth it—seems like a must-try when visiting Mt. Rushmore!

During my recent trip up to Mount Rushmore, I got the opportunity to have this great Ice Cream. When it comes to this Ice Cream Place, it is oriented in the same building as the Carver Cafe and tastes the greatest. When it comes to the Ice Cream varieties that they generally offer, they offer a diversity of distinct flavors that you would not find either way in other prominent attractions that are known to welcome millions a year. I had the Thomas Jefferson Vanilla and the Strawberry Cheesecake, which were both immaculate and a great incorporation of American History in Food and the modern establishment of the Frozen Dairy Dessert following the origins in France during the late 18th century when Jefferson brought the recipe of French Vanilla to the United States during his time as the French Ambassador. Make sure to come here whenever you are coming to Mount Rushmore at nighttime. And for a great price of $7.50, you could get a large, two-scoop portion for the cost of what one would be at Cold Stone.

Prices here are bit high for ice cream. Its $9 for 2 vanilla scoops in a cone and $8 for 1 scoop in a cone, so you are essentially paying a $1 premium for one more scoop. Regardless, the ice cream was still good and it was a fun quirky experience trying the original Thomas Jefferson recipe!

I got the strawberry cheesecake flavor and I have to say, no other ice cream will ever measure up. This ice cream was so light and creamy and the taste was phenomenal! If I ever come back to Mount Rushmore, it will be for the ice cream 😁

Great ice cream it seems they hire a lot of English not first language people. Which is normally fine but when I went was huge issue I didn’t understand what I paid for and the customer before had to go back to try and get a refund on ice cream? Cause was double charged.

Thank you, Mr. Thomas Jefferson, for the delicious vanilla ice cream! We tried all kinds of ice cream! It was delicious!

Prices here are bit high for ice cream. Its $9 for 2 vanilla scoops in a cone and $8 for 1 scoop in a cone, so you are essentially paying a $1 premium for one more scoop. Regardless, the ice cream was still good and it was a fun quirky experience trying the original Thomas Jefferson recipe!

The Thomas Jefferson ice cream is totally worth the calories. It's a vanilla but has a touch of salted Carmel taste. There wasn't a line for ice cream when we were there but based on the rope lines it looks like it can get busy! Fast service!

I was not expecting to get ice cream while going to see Mount Rushmore since it was late (before lighting ceremony) and it was raining but I got suckered in by the sign advertising Thomas Jefferson's own vanilla ice cream recipe LOL. I got two scoops, TJ's vanilla and cookies & cream. It's interesting that vanilla would cost an extra dollar but, I guess that's what the people come for! Which actually, I was very surprised that it was so good! I was happily eating my ice cream in the rain, freezing, while watching the lighting ceremony. Would definitely get another scoop of that TJ vanilla!

They hype is real! Thomas Jefferson Vanilla ice cream for the win. Cute little ice cream place that has plenty of flavors but why get a flavor you can get anywhere else? They also sell his vanilla ice cream recipe for $1.00 it's a cute card. If you come to Mt. Rushmore stop by the ice cream place, grab a scoop and walk your butt to the memorial. You gotta try this place!

The ice cream is great! The service is great! Everything was great even though it was a little pricey but the ice cream was great and it was especially right at Mount Rushmore National Monument. I would highly recommend this place if you can any ice cream while you look at the great Mount Rushmore. The ambiance is awesome!

This is a tourist trap and I knew the price for food and drinks are high, but charging too much for a cone and double scoop of ice cream is crazy. What worse, they don't have any single scoops and forget about purchasing any candy or snacks since like everything else, is expensive as well. It's a shame because the ice cream looks tasty.

I am a mega ice cream fanatic so I made it very clear to my sister and brother-in-law that we had to get some of TJ's ice cream while in Mt Rushmore on vacation! I'm not the biggest Thomas Jefferson fan, but if he had anything to do with ice cream, then I will cut him some slack (not too much though). They claim that the vanilla they serve here is his original recipe. I'm somewhat skeptical because I'd like to think we've come a long way in ice cream production/consistency in the past 200 years. But at the same time, I kind of want to believe it-- kind of like how you want to believe that the "grey stuff" at Disney World is cooked up by Lumiere himself (and not just colored gray frosting). The line moves pretty darn slow for a scoop shop. I even heard people asking if they could taste test and the associates told them "no because it holds up the line." Which I get, but my gosh, what IS holding up the line then?! I got the TJ OG Vanilla and classic chocolate. I thought I'd be underwhelmed, but the ice cream is surprisingly good! It was probably my favorite ice cream out of my entire vacation (I was gone for 10 days and ate a lot of ice cream!). I do have to laugh though because I'm sure this is the only establishment in America that charges $1 extra if you order the vanilla...As if the funds will go directly into Teej's wallet. I mean at least say it's for a Monticello Conservation Project or something-- there is no other reason why you should be upcharged just because a famous person created a recipe 200 years ago that you are using now. Doubt that there is patent pending on VANILLA ICE CREAM! Again, I'm ranting but it's more in jest than anything. I love all things touristy and ice cream so this was right up my alley. They lost a star because of the line management. Not as efficient as they could be for a scoop shop!

Not the most generous portion of 2 scoops for $6 but very good ice cream... Praline Pecan and Moose Tracks!

On a hot summer day, this hits the spot. The ice cream has a nice consistency and good flavors. I had the strawberry cheesecake one which was tasty. Everyone else enjoyed their flavors. I am also a fan of their butter pecan.

This is the place to go for a cool treat during your visit to Mount Rushmore. Similar to the adjoining cafe, this shop gives you a lot of ice cream (2 scoop minimum...and each scoop would be at least 2 times the size of a typical one scooper) for a very reasonable price ($6 as of this writing). They will even let you split the 2 scoops into separate containers so 2 can share. There are limited flavors (under 10), but are interesting (salted caramel, moose tracks...being the two that we ordered). The ice cream itself was good, but not great. It actually reminded me of Thrifty Ice Cream from our neighborhood Rite-Aid. But in a world renown location as Rushmore, it's a real gem.

Plain and simple the vanilla ice cream here is probably the best ice cream I have ever had. Could not believe what it tasted like, and I assume I will never have a vanilla ice cream like that ever again. The service was great too, soda machine was out of Diet Coke and an employee took care of it immediately.

On a hot day in South Dakota at the faces, I needed something cold. What better than icecream? We stood in line for a good 10 minutes between socially distanced placement stickers. There was 4 registers open, but each group had at least two people or more, which made it a longer wait. I wanted a root beer float, which was $7.25. I certainly don't think it should've been that much, but it is a tourist ordeal, so it's what I would expect. Also, the lady jam packed the cup with icecream and then I had to fill it with root beer at the drink dispenser. My cup was so full of icecream that I barely got any root beer. Anyways, it was still a nice treat for the day. Just note that it's a bit expensive and the line might have a longer wait.

Memorial Ice Cream offers a nice dessert selection when you need sugar before making the hike around Mt. Rushmore, or can serve as a treat for making it around the park. I got one waffle cone and ice cream + one cup of ice cream and our total was about $10.50. They gave generous scoops and we were pleased with the taste. The pralines and cream were creamy and the flavor was swirled with caramel. The strawberry and cheesecake was decent. There is a front board that shares a fun fact about this ice cream shop, Thomas Jefferson wrote not only the Declaration of Independence, but also the first ice cream recipe!

Portion is inconsistent. I ordered three ice cream and each one comes out to different portions. One was so small that I had to tell them to give me another scoop given the inconsistency. Other than that, the ice cream is good. I was disappointed that vanilla was sold out at 6:30pm.

Our founding fathers are responsible for many things, but one of them is NOT the invention of ice cream. However, historians believe Thomas Jefferson wrote the earliest recorded ice cream recipe in America, circa the 1780s. Even this fact is a tad suspect, as the credit may actually belong to his French butler 'Adrien Petit' or his French-cuisine trained slave (side eye) 'James Hemings.' Even still, the first (known) time ice cream was documented as a dessert in the U.S. was in Maryland in 1744, when Governor Thomas Bladen served it at a dining event. But I digress, the vanilla ice cream here is super decadent and very, very good. It's creamy, and very rich--which I suspect is due to the high egg content, and the egg-to-cream ratio. It costs $6 ($1 more than the other flavors, as of Summer 2017) but surprisingly comes with 2 generous scoops.

Is this the location right in front of Mt. Rushmore/next to the souvenir shop? I always remember their mint chocolate chip ice cream being super minty. A couple years ago, the interior was very different from what it is now (the ice cream area, not the entree food area).

A great place to come for ice cream if you're in the area visiting the Rushmore Memorial. Though selection is relatively limited, the quality of ice cream here is pretty solid & on point. Got the strawberry cheesecake & the Thomas Jefferson Vanilla in a cup. My impressions are the following: would have liked if this place used real strawberries instead of imitation as it tasted a tad too fake/sweet. However, the Thomas Jefferson Vanilla was unreal and off the charts. I'm not sure if I've ever had as good as vanilla bean ice cream as I've had here. Not only was it sweet, but it was full of goodness that really made my taste buds scream with delight. Unsurprisingly, the ice cream here is undoutedly expensive due to the remoteness of location in the park, but definitely an ice cream shop worth stopping into if you're in the area exploring nearby!

My family and I have visited Mount Rushmore numerous times over the years. We had always found the soft serve ice cream worth the wait in line and high prices due to the quality of the ice cream and the large serving size. However, this summer we were very disappointed to discover that soft serve ice cream is no longer on the menu, although all of the soft serve machines are still very much there. The hand dipped ice cream was decent, but small portion sizes and as always, pricey. Please bring your soft serve back!

TJ's vanilla is one of the best ice cream I've ever had! And this is not even exaggerating! I went to Michigan State, and our dairy store makes the world's best ice cream! And this is the first time I had ice cream that is as good as MSU dairy's! So definitely recommend his place! Also who doesn't want to try the Thomas Jefferson's family recipe? Absolutely loved this place!

Thomas Jefferson ice cream was phenomenal. The other ice creams were also good. It's worth the stop and the extra dollar for the TJ's ice cream.

They have no signage saying their hours and everything else in the park is open at 8am. They open at 9:30 apparently. Would be courteous if they open almost 2 hours late to tell people who drive across 8 states to see them and change their plans to get the ice cream. HUGE disappointment. Post your hours on the door like everyone else!

My husband and I tried the butter pecan ice cream and decided it was the best we'd ever tasted!

My family and I were treated so horribly by one of their workers. She got angry at us when my husband and I thought there was another icecream area with fewer people. We walked over there to see if we could move to that line. A lady came over and told us that we needed to get back in the main line "like everybody else". So we went and stood back by our kids who were still waiting in line. Then she followed us around while we were in line and continued to be rude. My son was playing a game with his sister. The worker went over to him and yelled at him to "pay attention" and "stop doing that". They weren't bothering anyone. Then it was our turn and she still wouldn't let us go get our ice cream because she felt like we weren't waiting in line like we were "supposed to". Not kidding. This happened. She finally allowed us to go to the ice cream counter but I was too mad to eat any. Then she told my friend's daughter that her shirt "looks dumb tucked in and should untuck it". This woman completely put a damper on our experience at Rushmoore and really took away from our nice family day. I will never recommend or go back there again. In fact I might contact the corporate office and tell them what a horrible experience it was.

Delicious ice cream served in generous portions. We got the mint chocolate chip and cookies and cream. So good! They also had sodas for each president at Mt. Rushmore. Love that George Washington was cherry flavored. :)

The ice cream was delicious! I got the waffle cone with mint ice cream and my boyfriend got the same with cookies and cream. Definitely worth stopping in on your visit to see Mount Rushmore.

Thomas Jefferson's recipe vanilla ice cream. Get it. It is good. You will like it. If you share it, you will regret it. The portion size is good. The ambiance is good.