Cedar County, Nebraska

Cedar County, Nebraska

Cedar County is in northeastern Nebraska along the Missouri River, which forms its northern border with South Dakota. Gavins Point Dam stands at its northwest corner, and the free-flowing river below it is part of the Missouri National Recreational River, with public accesses at Nebraska Tailwaters, St. Helena, Bow Creek and Brooky Bottom. Inland the county is rolling farmland cut by Bow Creek and its branches. It covers 746 square miles and had 8,380 people in 2020.

The county was created on February 12, 1857. Its first seat was St. James near the river; the seat moved to St. Helena by 1869, and Hartington has held it since an election on January 20, 1885. German Catholic settlers built the parish churches that still mark the countryside, three of them on the National Register at St. Helena, Bow Valley and Menominee. Randolph, Laurel and Coleridge are the other main towns, and the Cedar County Fair is held at Hartington each July.

US 81 crosses the county north to south and enters South Dakota on the Discovery Bridge at South Yankton. US 20 runs along the south through Randolph, Belden and Laurel; NE 12, the Outlaw Trail Scenic Byway, crosses the north past Fordyce, Wynot and Obert; NE 57 runs north–south through Belden, Coleridge and Hartington; NE 84 crosses east–west through Hartington; and NE 15 runs north through Laurel to the Vermillion–Newcastle Bridge.

Towns of Cedar County

Cedar County Cameras

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Travel Corridors

US Highway 81 — north–south through the west of the county, past Magnet and Fordyce to the Discovery Bridge into Yankton, S.D. US 81 Corridor →

US Highway 20 — east–west across the south through Randolph, Belden and Laurel. US 20 Corridor →

Nebraska Highway 12 (Outlaw Trail Scenic Byway) — east–west across the north, with spurs to Fordyce, St. Helena and Wynot, then through Obert. NE 12 Corridor →

Nebraska Highway 84 — east–west from US 81 through Hartington to NE 15. NE 84 Corridor →

Nebraska Highway 15 — north–south from Wayne through Laurel and Obert to the Vermillion–Newcastle Bridge. NE 15 Corridor →

NE 57, NE 59 and NE 121 — NE 57 runs from Belden through Coleridge and Hartington to NE 12; NE 59 links NE 57 near Coleridge with Laurel, and US 81 with Magnet; NE 121 runs from US 81 at South Yankton past Aten and Gavins Point Dam to Crofton.

Cedar County Business Directory

Find restaurants, lodging, health care and local businesses across Cedar County.

Businesses within 20 miles of: Hartington · Randolph · Laurel · Coleridge · Wynot · Fordyce

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Region

Northeast Nebraska (Lewis & Clark Region) →

Adjacent Counties

Knox County (west) · Pierce County (southwest) · Wayne County (southeast) · Dixon County (east) · Yankton County and Clay County, South Dakota (north, across the Missouri River)

County Seat: Hartington
Founded: Created and organized February 12, 1857
Named For: The cedar groves along the county’s rivers
License Plate Prefix: 13
Population: 8,380 (2020 census)
Area: 746 sq mi

History

Cedar County was created in 1857 and takes its name from the red cedars along the Missouri bluffs. Hartington has been the county seat since 1885, when it won the seat from St Helena in an election on January 20, 1885 — the town was named for the Marquess of Hartington, the British statesman.

The county’s character is German and Luxembourger Catholic, and it shows: Hartington, Fordyce, Constance, St Helena, Bow Valley, Wynot and Menominee all grew around their parishes, and ten of them consolidated their schools into Cedar Catholic High School in 1964. The Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church Complex at Bow Valley, listed on the National Register in 2000, is the finest building in the county — Late Gothic Revival by Josef Schwartz and Henry Stukenoff, with a 1926 rectory, a school and the 1952 Grotto of Our Lady of Fatima.

Geography

Cedar County covers about 740 square miles in northeast Nebraska, bounded on the north by the Missouri River and the South Dakota line. The north is bluff and chalk-rock country falling to the river; inland it is rolling farmland drained by Bow Creek and its tributaries. It borders Knox County to the west, Pierce County to the southwest, Wayne County to the southeast and Dixon County to the east.

Gavins Point Dam sits on the county line, joining Cedar County to Yankton County, South Dakota — which means the Corps of Engineers recreation areas below the dam are in Nebraska, in Cedar County, despite carrying Yankton mailing addresses.

Outdoors — Camping, RV, Hunting & Fishing

There is no Nebraska state park or state recreation area in Cedar County. The developed camping here is federal — Corps of Engineers ground below Gavins Point Dam — plus municipal sites.

Camping and RV

Cottonwood Recreation Area (Corps of Engineers), on Lake Yankton below the dam. 77 campsites, all with electric. Two modern shower houses with flush toilets, potable water, playground, boat ramp. The dump station is on Toe Road north of the campground, not inside the camping loop — plan the exit. Reservable through recreation.gov.

Nebraska Tailwaters Recreation Area (Corps of Engineers), 55291 Highway 121, on the south bank immediately below the dam. 36 sites — 34 electric, 2 tent-only — plus a group area. RV dump station on site, potable water, modern showers, fish-cleaning station, two-lane boat ramp and an accessible fishing pier. Roughly $18–$20, season reported May to October. Firewood movement is restricted for emerald ash borer.

City of Hartington Campground, Broadway and Felber Streets. Six concrete pads with full hookups — 30 and 50 amp, water and sewer — and a sanitary dump station on site. $25 a night, open year round, but the water is shut off around November 15.

Laurel City Park, 302 Cedar Street. Five sites with 30-amp electric, $10 a night, pay at city hall. There is no dump station at Laurel — the nearest reported is at Ponca, about thirty miles away in Dixon County. Worth knowing before you arrive.

Randolph, Coleridge and Obert have municipal sites, and Bob’s Campground at Randolph is a private full-hookup park on US-20; none publishes reliable hookup or fee detail, so call first. Three river accesses — St Helena, Brooky Bottom and Bow Creek — allow primitive camping. Bow Creek is reachable only from the water: carry-in launch, no vehicle access to the river, no restrooms and no water.

Fishing

Lake Yankton — 332 acres, in Cedar County. Bluegill, carp, channel catfish, crappie, largemouth bass and walleye, with a 15-inch minimum on black bass and a fifteen-a-day panfish bag. Boat ramp at the Cottonwood day-use area.

Chalkrock WMA — a 44-acre lake in the north of the county near Menominee. Bluegill, channel catfish and largemouth bass. No live baitfish may be used or possessed. Boat ramp, but no restrooms.

The Missouri River below Gavins Point is a tailwater fishery, with ramps at Nebraska Tailwaters, Training Dike, St Helena and Brooky Bottom. No Nebraska park entry permit applies anywhere in the county — the WMA, NRD and Corps areas do not require one — just a fishing permit. The current below the dam is serious; the Park Service specifically warns about landing at St Helena.

Hunting

Chalkrock WMA, 130 acres including the lake, is the county’s main public ground — deer, pheasant and waterfowl, owned by the Lewis & Clark NRD and managed with Game and Parks. Wiseman WMA lies in the Missouri bottoms but its acreage and management are not published. Beyond that, Cedar is an Open Fields and Waters and private-permission county; check the current Public Access Atlas.

Note: Buckskin Hills and Powder Creek WMAs are often listed with Cedar County. They are in Dixon County, near Newcastle.

Trails and the byway

The Outlaw Trail Scenic Byway (Nebraska Highway 12) runs the length of northern Cedar County through Wynot. The Training Dike Recreation Area below the dam is day-use only but has a paved multi-purpose trail, a swim beach, two boat ramps and a prairie restoration demonstration area. Goat Island, three miles long and publicly owned, lies opposite Brooky Bottom and allows primitive camping with no facilities whatever. There is no rail-trail in the county.

Events

Cedar County at a Glance

Cedar County, Nebraska — about 740 square miles of northeast farmland running up to the Missouri River bluffs, settled by German and Luxembourger Catholic families whose parish churches still mark every village. County seat Hartington. 300 listings across 17 towns.

Getting there: NE-12, the Outlaw Trail Scenic Byway, crosses the north through Wynot; US-20 runs along the south through Randolph and Laurel; NE-15 and NE-57 cross north to south.

For visitors: the Corps of Engineers campgrounds below Gavins Point Dam — Cottonwood and Nebraska Tailwaters, both in Cedar County despite Yankton addresses — with the Missouri tailwater fishery below them. The Saints Peter and Paul Church Complex at Bow Valley, on the National Register. Chalkrock Lake for quiet fishing.

Cedar County · Northeast Nebraska · County Cameras