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A Guide to theLaura’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Sites Little Houses

The Notgrass Family

A GuideLaura’s to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Sites Little Houses

Ray and Charlene Notgrass John Notgrass, Bethany Poore, and Mary Evelyn McCurdy Laura’s Little Houses: A Guide to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Sites

Cover and Interior Design by Mary Evelyn McCurdy

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Book Credits Little House® is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers Inc. This ebook is not endorsed by or associated with HarperCollins in any way. Book quotations are taken from the following titles by Laura Ingalls Wilder, published by HarperCollins or its subsidiaries.

Little House in the Big Woods. Copyright © 1932, 1960 Little House Heritage Trust. Little House on the Prairie. Copyright © 1935, 1963 Little House Heritage Trust. On the Banks of Plums Creek. Copyright © 1937, 1965 Little House Heritage Trust. By the Shores of Silver Lake. Copyright © 1937, 1965 Little House Heritage Trust. Little Town on the Prairie. Copyright © 1941 Laura Ingalls Wilder. Copyright renewed 1969 Roger Lea MacBride. Farmer Boy. Copyright © 1933 Laura Ingalls Wilder. Copyright renewed 1961 Roger Lea MacBride. These Happy Golden Years. Copyright © 1943 Laura Ingalls Wilder. Copyright renewed 1971 Roger Lea MacBride.

Image Credits All images are from the Notgrass family collection except: cover David Hepworth (Flickr, CC BY 2.0); 1/top Wikimedia Commons; 3/top amrit1983 (Flickr, CC BY 2.0); 4 Eleanor Bradley; 5 TheSeafarer (Flickr, CC BY 2.0); 12/top mhowry (Flickr, CC BY 2.0); 16, 17 Jo Naylor (Flickr, CC BY 2.0); 19, 20 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Images marked CC BY 2.0 are licensed through the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License. For more information, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

BestTrips.guide is our website that allows us to keep the links in this guide up to date. As you browse this PDF file, simply click on a light blue link to go to a website.

The listings and Internet links in this book are provided for your information and convenience. Our company does not endorse the organizations, events, or advertisements you may encounter through this guide. If you find a link that does not take you to the correct site, please let us know.

Teaching the Heart, Soul, and Mind™ 1-800-211-8793 [email protected] www.notgrass.com Dedicated to the volunteers, associations, and businesses who maintain the historic sites associated with Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family.

You are preserving history for all of us and promoting the values Laura cherished.

We appreciate you. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote, “I lived everything that happened in my books.” The Little House books provide a true pictureTimeline of Laura’s experiences asof a pioneer girl.Laura’s She chose to omit some periodsLittle from her family’sHouses history in her Little House stories, so there are some differences in the timeline portrayed in the books and the actual timeline of Laura’s life. These are the places she lived.

1867 • Laura Ingalls is born near Pepin, Wisconsin.

1868 • Laura and the Ingalls family move to Chariton County, Missouri.

1869 • Laura and the Ingalls family move to Montgomery County, near Independence, Kansas.

1871 • Laura and the Ingalls family move back to Pepin, Wisconsin.

1874 • Laura and the Ingalls family move to Walnut Grove, Minnesota.

1876 • Laura and the Ingalls family move to Burr Oak, Iowa.

1878 • Laura and the Ingalls family move back to Walnut Grove, Minnesota.

1879 • Laura and the Ingalls family move to De Smet, Dakota Territory.

1885 • Laura marries Almanzo Wilder and moves to his homestead claim near De Smet, Dakota Territory.

1890 • Laura and Almanzo Wilder and their daughter Rose (born 1886) live with Almanzo’s parents at their farm in Spring Valley, Minnesota.

1891 • Laura, Almanzo, and Rose move to Westville, Florida.

1892 • Laura, Almanzo, and Rose move back to De Smet, South Dakota.

1894 • Laura, Almanzo, and Rose move to Mansfield, Missouri.

“Home is the nicest~Laura word Ingalls there Wilder is.” 1. Pepin, Wisconsin...... 2 2. Chariton County, Missouri...... 4 3. Independence, Kansas...... 5 The 4. Walnut Grove, MinnesotaSites...... 6 5. Burr Oak, Iowa...... 8 6. De Smet, South Dakota...... 10 7. Spring Valley, Minnesota...... 14 8. Westville, Florida...... 15 9. Mansfield, Missouri...... 16 10. Malone, New York...... 18 11. Vinton, Iowa...... 19 12. Keystone, South Dakota...... 20

1 12 6 4 7 5 11

3 9

8 A Reconstruction of the Ingalls’ Little House on the Prairie in Kansas

Several of the sites described in this book are only open seasonally. Please call or visit a location’s website before planning a trip! When Laura Ingalls and Almanzo Wilder became engaged, he promised to build her a house on his claim. “It will have to be a little house,” he told her. “Do you mind?” “I have always lived in little houses.Introduction I like them,” Laura answered. Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in many different little houses in many different places during her long, fascinating life. Laura was a farmer’s daughter and a farmer’s wife. The Ingalls and Wilder families were pioneers, part of the westward migration that went by covered wagon to new, unsettled territory to build homes and turn the land into productive farms. As an elderly woman living happily at Rocky Ridge Farm, Laura sat with pencil and five-cent lined school tablets and wrote the story of her childhood and early adulthood that we now treasure as the Little House books. The first, Little House in the Big Woods, was Laura Ingalls Wilder published in 1932. Young readers were hooked and begged for more. My mother began reading the Little House books to my brother and sister and me when I was in the 4th or 5th grade. I remember the little group of us sitting around on the living room carpet full of enjoyment as she read. Most vividly, I remember laughing to split our sides at the antics of Almanzo and his siblings while their parents were out of town as told in the “Keeping House” chapter of Farmer Boy. I love the Little House books. My family read them aloud, and I have read them myself again and again since that first time. The scenes and settings are so vivid, they are more like my own memories than things I read in books: making maple sugar at Grandpa’s, Ma slapping a bear thinking it was a cow, Laura going alone into dangerously deep water, the infuriating Nellie Oleson, the heartbreaking implications of Mary’s blindness, the death of Jack the good bulldog, the bumping of the wagon over the wild prairie, the passing flocks of birds, the howl of wolves, the blast of blizzards, and the beautiful, longing music of Pa’s fiddle. For my family, they are more than books; they are guides to marriage and child-raising, models of hard work and contentment, pictures of commitment and love of family. Please give the children in your life the gift of Little House before childhood passes. Read them again or for the first time as an adult. Read them aloud to your children and to your grandchildren. Laugh together over slippery parlor furniture, leeches all over Nellie’s legs, and a stray cat climbing up Laura’s hoop skirt. Huddle together in the back kitchen through a blizzard, wait together anxiously for Pa to return from a trip to town, and work together to save for Mary’s college tuition. Listen together to Pa playing his fiddle. And if you love Laura, take your experience a step further and visit the places where her little houses stand or once stood. The grassy prairies, the murmuring creeks, and the vast skies she describes so beautifully in her books are real places—places that readers can visit to get to know Laura and her world better. Laura is so well-known and widely-loved that all of the places she lived have a marker of some sort, from a simple sign to a museum complex with multiple preserved structures. Laura Ingalls Wilder gave us a gift to treasure—her family’s story. Loyal “Laura fans” give us the gift of preserving her homeplaces. We, the recipients of these gifts, have much to be thankful for and so much wonder to anticipate.

Bethany Poore Street Signs in De Smet, South Dakota

Little House in the Big Woods On FebruaryWisconsin 7, 1867, in a small log cabin in the Big Woods near Pepin, Wisconsin, Charles and Caroline Ingalls and their two-year-old daughter Mary welcomed baby Laura into their family. In Little House in the Big Woods, the first book in the Little House series, Laura Ingalls Wilder introduces children to the long-ago way of life she knew in her own childhood. She carefully explains the details of life in the sparsely populated woods of Wisconsin, from raising and preserving food, to the wonderful “sugaring off” dance at Grandpa’s, to her family’s happy, simple Christmas celebration.

What Can YouLittle See House WaysideThere Today? The Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society of Pepin owns three acres of the land that was part of the farm once owned by Charles and Caroline Ingalls. There is a replica of the Ingalls family’s log cabin, modeled after Laura’s description in her book. The woods have been cleared, and the area is now a modern farming community. The Little House Wayside is located about 7 miles north of Pepin on County Road CC and is open year-round for self-guided tours. Barry Corner About one mile before you reach the Little House Wayside coming from the town of Pepin, you pass a tiny community called Barry Corner, at the intersection of County Road CC and County Highway 1. Laura and Mary attended Barry Corner School, taught by Anna Barry. Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum The Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society maintains a museum and gift shop in the town of Pepin. The museum features Laura Ingalls Wilder memorabilia as well as items related to her times and the history of Pepin. The museum is on State Highway 35, also known as the Great River Road. Call before you visit; the museum is closed from November through mid-May. BestTrips.guide/pepin 306 Third Street Pepin, WI 54759 Picnic Area and Reconstructed Cabin at 715-442-2142 Little House Wayside

2 Laura’s Little Houses: A Guide to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Sites © 2013 Notgrass Company Laura Ingalls Wilder Park The town of Pepin has a park named in honor of the town’s most famous daughter, with a Laura Ingalls Wilder historical marker. It is located on State Highway 35 in Pepin. Lake Pepin The town of Pepin is beside Lake Pepin, which is the widest part of the Mississippi River. Like Laura and her family, you can gather pebbles and have a picnic.

Lake Pepin

Laura Days Special Event The town of Pepin hosts an annual Laura Ingalls Wilder and pioneer-themed festival called Laura Days every year on the second full weekend in September. Check the website to confirm specific dates. BestTrips.guide/lauradays

The great, dark trees of the Big Woods stood all around the house, and beyond them were other trees and beyond them were more trees. As far as a man could go to the north in a day, or a week, or a whole month, there was nothing but woods. . . . The house was a comfortable house. Upstairs there was a large attic, pleasant to play in when the rain drummed on the roof. Downstairs was the small bedroom, and the big room. The bedroom had a window that closed with a wooden shutter. The big room had two windows with glass in the panes, and it had two doors, a front door and a back door. — Little House in the Big Woods

Just thinking about Pepin takes me back to our earliest days of homeschooling when I read Little House in the Big Woods to John, Bethany, and Mary Evelyn, followed by one Laura book after another. Having never read them as a child, I was as excited to find out what happened next as the children were. Years later Ray and I went on a trip to Wisconsin for some rest and relaxation before going to the 2011 Minnesota homeschool conference in Duluth. On the way home we traveled the Great River Road that runs along the Mississippi River. We were excited that Pepin, Wisconsin, was along the way and took a detour to the Ingalls’ reconstructed log cabin a few miles out of town. Charlene and Ray at Little House Wayside, 2011 — Charlene

In 1868 Charles and Caroline Ingalls and their young family moved to Chariton County, Missouri, where they had purchasedMissouri a tract of land with Caroline’s brother Henry and his family. The families stayed briefly, moving away in 1869.

There is a pull-off and Whatsign on the landCan owned You by CharlesSee and CarolineThere Ingalls, Today?which is a privately-owned farm today. The site is near Rothville, Missouri. From Rothville, go east on County Road E, then south on Route F for about 2 miles. Turn right (west) on Ingalls Road. Go 1/2 mile to the Ingalls Homestead Site sign, as seen below.

Little House On the Prairie The Ingalls family heard that the lands of the Osage Kansas Diminished Reserve in Kansas would soon be open for settlement. In 1869 they traveled by covered wagon to a lonely spot south of Independence, Kansas. Pa and Ma, with the help of neighbors, built a cabin and a barn and dug a well. In Little House on the Prairie, Laura takes readers with her family on a covered wagon journey, and then describes how they made an empty piece of prairie their home. They faced such dangers as malaria, wolves, fires, and hostile encounters with Native Americans. With strong pioneer determination they were successful in establishing another home and farm.

LittleWhat House On Can the Prairie You Museum See There Today? Visitors can see a replica of the Ingalls cabin at this homestead site near Independence, Kansas. There is a stone well on the property believed to be the one Pa dug with the help of Mr. Scott. A section of prairie is left untilled so that visitors can see grasses and flowers as Laura would have seen them. Walnut Creek, the one that Mr. Edwards crossed to bring Mary and Laura their Christmas gifts, flows nearby, as does the Verdigris River, mentioned frequently in the book. BestTrips.guide/independence Reconstructed Cabin on the Site of the 2507 CR 3000 620-289-4238 Ingalls Homestead Independence, KS 67301

Prairie Days Festival Special Events This festival is held each year on the second Saturday in June. Visitors can enjoy music and other entertainment, food and craft vendors, living history reenactors, and special activities for children. Lamplight on the Prairie Visitors to this event held each September or October can experience a guided tour of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum by lamplight. Living history reenactors bring the story of the Ingalls family and the days of the pioneers to life.

There was only the enormous, empty prairie, with grasses blowing in waves of light and shadow across it, and the great blue sky above it, and birds flying up from it and singing with joy because the sun was rising. And on the whole enormous prairie there was no sign that any other human being had ever been there. — Little House On the Prairie

On the Banks of Plum Creek and By the Shores of Silver Lake After theirMinnesota stay in Kansas, the Ingalls returned to Pepin, Wisconsin, for a few years. In 1874 the Ingalls set out to go west again, this time stopping near Walnut Grove, Minnesota, where they bought a farm and planned to raise a wheat crop. In On the Banks of Plum Creek, Laura tells of her family’s years in a dugout beside the creek and then in a beautiful home that Pa built on their farm. By the Shores of Silver Lake begins with the Ingalls living at Plum Creek. As the story begins, a new opportunity arises, and the Ingalls prepare to leave Walnut Grove.

What Can YouLaura See Ingalls WilderThere Museum Today? This museum houses memorabilia related to the Ingalls family and also to the Little House On the Prairie television series made in the 1970s and 80s. The museum includes several different structures, including a train depot from 1898 and a replica of the dugout in which the Ingalls lived on Plum Creek. BestTrips.guide/wgmuseum 330 8th St. Walnut Grove, MN 56180 800-528-7280; 507-859-2358 Ingalls Dugout Site The site of the Ingalls’ dugout located “on the banks of Plum Evelyn, Charlene’s Mother, Beside a Covered Wagon at the Creek” is privately owned but is open to visitors. A depression Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum, 2006 in the ground where the dugout once stood is all that remains of the Ingalls’ homestead. You can walk down to the creek and over a bridge that crosses it. Nearby are features such as plum thickets, table lands, big rock, and a spring that Laura described in her book. The site is located 1.5 miles north of Walnut Grove on Redwood County Highway 5. BestTrips.guide/wgdugout Church Bell In 1874 Pa Ingalls made a sacrificial contribution to the Union Congregational Church for the purchase of a church bell. In her book, Laura wrote that the amount of the contribution was $3, but according to church records it was $26.15. Pa’s donation kept him from buying a pair of boots he badly needed. The bell still rings today in the bellfry of the English Lutheran Church at 450 Wiggins Street in Walnut Grove. Church Bell of the English Lutheran Church

6 Laura’s Little Houses: A Guide to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Sites © 2013 Notgrass Company The tall willows fluttered slender leaves up against the sky, and little willows grew around them in clumps. They shaded all the ground, and it was cool and bare. The path went across it to a little spring, where cold, clear water fell into a tiny pool and then ran trickling to the creek. — On the Banks of Plum Creek

Walnut GroveSpecial Family Festival Events This festival is held on Saturdays in July in Walnut Grove City Park. It features demonstrations of historic arts and crafts, activities for children, dance performances, a Laura and Nellie Look-Alike Contest, and booths selling homemade wares. BestTrips.guide/wgfestival Wilder Pageant This production is performed each year in July at a hillside amphitheatre near Plum Creek. It tells the story of the Ingalls family in Walnut Grove during the 1870s. BestTrips.guide/wgpageant Plum Creek Near the Site of the Ingalls Dugout

My sister Bethany and I enjoyed countless hours of our childhood playing imagination games together. Sometimes we were in a castle, sometimes we were in an orphanage, sometimes we were on the prairie. I know many of our pioneer imaginings originated from Laura’s books. I am thankful that Laura’s writings opened for us a very special window of what life was like at that time. I have enjoyed visiting the sites where Laura’s stories really took place. When you have traveled on a covered wagon and lived in a dugout with Laura through her books, there is something very special about standing “on the banks of Plum Creek” yourself. Charlene and Her Mom On a Bridge Over Plum Creek, 2006 — Mary Evelyn

The Ingalls family lived in Burr Oak, Iowa, from 1876 to 1877. Laura omitted this period from the story of the Little House Iowabooks. A baby boy called Freddie was born to the Ingalls in Walnut Grove in 1875. After Pa lost his wheat crop multiple times to a series of grasshopper plagues, he agreed to join the Steadmans, friends from church in Walnut Grove, in operating a hotel the Steadmans had purchased in Burr Oak, Iowa. In the summer of 1876, while the Ingalls visited relatives en route to Burr Oak, baby Freddie died. Mary and Laura helped Ma with her work at Masters’ Hotel. Their sister Grace was born while the Ingalls family lived in Burr Oak. In 1877 the Ingalls moved back to Walnut Grove.

Laura Ingalls Wilder ParkWhat and Museum Can You See There Today? The local museum is housed in Masters’ Hotel, where the Ingalls lived and worked during their time in Burr Oak. Visitors can take a guided tour of the hotel to see the parlor, kitchen, dining room, and bedrooms. Behind the hotel flows Silver Creek, where Laura and her sisters once played. A park has been created here with play equipment and picnic tables. You can also see a covered wagon like the one in which the Ingalls family traveled. BestTrips.guide/burroak 3603 236th Avenue Burr Oak, Iowa 52101 563-735-5916 Charlene Outside the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum, 2013 Advent Christian Church This building was constructed in 1877 while the Ingalls family was living in Burr Oak. The Ingalls attended a different congregation, but Laura enjoyed playing on the hill beside this church. The church is not open regular hours, but privately scheduled tours are available. Site of Congregational Church The Congregational Church which the Ingalls attended no longer stands, but a sign has been erected to mark the location not far from the museum.

8 Laura’s Little Houses: A Guide to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Sites © 2013 Notgrass Company Laura Days Special Event Every year during the fourth weekend in June, Burr Oak hosts Laura Days when visitors can enjoy a parade, games, pioneer demonstrations, music, stagecoach rides, and a pie auction. A community church service is held at Advent Christian Church.

Inside Masters’ Hotel

After a trip to see our son John and his family in Missouri, Ray and I headed north toward Rochester for the 2013 Minnesota homeschool conference. We had about a day in between, so I looked inside our road atlas to see what we might be able to see along the way. I was excited to find Burr Oak, Iowa, just a little out of our way. Getting there before it closed would be a challenge. I called ahead and the kind tour guide offered to come back to the hotel if we got there after it closed. We barely made it in time. There in the basement of the hotel we saw the small bedroom where the entire Ingalls family likely lived during their brief time at the hotel. We saw the dining room where Laura and Mary set the tables and the Ray and Charlene in Burr Oak, 2013 tiny kitchen where Ma cooked for hotel guests. — Charlene

By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, SouthThese Dakota Happy Golden Years, The First Four Years By the Shores of Silver Lake begins during a hard time for the Ingalls family. Everyone except for Pa and Laura had come down with scarlet fever, and the illness had left Mary blind. Pa’s sister Docia arrives at their home unexpectedly and tells Pa about an opportunity to work on the railroad further west. Pa jumps at the chance and the Ingalls family makes their last big move in 1879 to settle in Dakota Territory. Pa finds a homestead claim close to the planned townsite of De Smet, where he is ready to settle for good. The Long Winter tells of the famously hard winter of 1880-1881. Laura and her family weathered it in Pa’s store building in the town of De Smet. Threatened with cold and starvation, the long winter was one of the greatest challenges the Ingalls family faced. In Little Town on the Prairie, Laura is nearly grown up. The Ingalls homestead claim is beginning to thrive. Laura works in town and enjoys her friends at school in the bustling, growing town of De Smet. The Ingalls reach the goal of sending Mary to college in Iowa, and Laura dedicates herself to helping her parents pay for the tuition so Mary can stay. In These Happy Golden Years, Laura teaches school for the first time. Pa and Ma are succeeding in building their homestead. Laura is noticed by a handsome young homesteader named Almanzo Wilder. Much of this book is about their courtship days. The First Four Years was published in 1971, many years after Laura died. It was a manuscript that Laura hadn’t rewritten or edited, so it has a different tone than the rest of the series. It is about the first years of Laura and Almanzo’s marriage, difficult years beset by tragedy, with the bright spot of the birth of their daughter Rose.

What Can You SeeLaura IngallsThere Wilder MemorialToday? Society Tours begin in the Society’s gift shop and include the surveyor’s house where the Ingalls lived, a house Pa built in 1887, a schoolhouse which Laura and Carrie attended, and a replica of Brewster School where Laura taught. Hundreds of items are on display which belonged to the Ingalls family. The Discovery Center provides hands-on activities. The Society offers a map for a walking/driving tour that includes sixteen places in De Smet which were important to the Ingalls and Wilder families. Be sure to pick up one of these so you don’t miss any Laura sites! BestTrips.guide/desmet 105 Olivet Ave SE 800-880-3383 Bethany, Mary Evelyn, and John at the House that Pa Built, 1996 De Smet, SD 57231

10 Laura’s Little Houses: A Guide to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Sites © 2013 Notgrass Company Loftus Store This general store that Laura describes in her books still stands on Calumet Avenue in De Smet. It was operated by Mr. Loftus until his death in 1921. Today a variety of pioneer-style items are for sale in the historic building. Historic memorabilia are also on display. BestTrips.guide/loftus First Congregational Church The Ingalls family helped to establish the First Congregational Church of De Smet. Pa helped build the original building in 1882, which still stands at the corner of 2nd Street and Loftus Ave. In 1967 First Congregational Church (now also known as United Church of Christ) sold the building to the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, which now meets in the original building. First Congregational Church installed a bell in 1884, which is preserved on a memorial tower outside the church’s present building on Highway 14 W in De Smet. De Smet Cemetery Pa, Ma, Mary, Carrie, Grace, and the infant son of Almanzo and Laura are all buried in this cemetery. Site of the Ingalls Homestead Here you can see four of the five cottonwood trees Pa planted in honor of Caroline and their daughters. A monument marks the Ray Outside the Church Building Pa Helped Build, 1996 site of the Ingalls house. Site of the Wilder Homestead A sign by the road marks the section of land north of town that was once Almanzo and Laura’s homestead. The sign points out the hill where their claim shanty once stood. Silver Lake and Walking Trail Silver Lake lies just east of De Smet. A concrete walking trail provides easy access to this scenic area which Laura described in her books. Twin Lakes Laura mentioned the Twin Lakes (Lake Henry and Lake Thompson) in her writing. Southeast of De Smet, Lake Thompson Recreation Area offers camping sites, cabin rentals, De Smet Cemetery trails, picnic sites, and more. BestTrips.guide/twinlakes Spirit Lake Spirit Lake was one of Almanzo and Laura’s destinations when they went buggy riding together. It is located northwest of De Smet. Almost all of the shoreline is privately owned, but there is a county road right-of-way with a boat launch and fishing spot on the south side of the lake.

The Big Slough As you travel south from De Smet toward the site of the Ingalls homestead, keep your eyes open for the Big Slough, another landmark Laura talked about in her books.

Laura’s Little Houses: A Guide to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Sitescontinued © 2013 Notgrass Company . . 11. Ingalls Homestead This privately-ownedDe Smet, living history Southmuseum located Dakotaon what was once the (continued) Ingalls homestead brings the days of the pioneers to life. Visitors are invited to take part in activities such as twisting hay, grinding wheat, making rope, and riding a horse-drawn covered wagon. BestTrips.guide/homestead 20812 Homestead Rd. De Smet, SD 57231 800-776-3594

Ma and Laura craned to see into the wagon box, and Carrie climbed up the wheel. “Trees!” Ma exclaimed. “Little trees!” Laura shouted. “Mary! Pa’s brought little trees!” “They’re cottonwoods,” Pa said. “They all grew from seeds of the Lone Tree that we saw across the prairie when we were coming out from Brookings. It’s a giant tree when you get close to it. It’s seeded all along the edge of Lake Henry. I dug enough of these seedlings to make a windbreak clear around the shanty. You’re going to have your trees growing, Caroline, quick as I can get them set in the ground.” — By the Shores of Silver Lake

Laura Ingalls WilderSpecial Pageant Events Each summer an outdoor drama presented in De Smet tells the story of one of Laura’s books. BestTrips.guide/dspageant

Old Settler’s Day This celebration held each year in June is the longest-running festival in South Dakota. Participants can enjoy music, races, a parade, food and craft vendors, and other activities. In 1939, many years after Almanzo and Laura had settled in Missouri, Pa’s Cottonwood Trees they returned to De Smet to attend this event.

It was grand to see some of the cottonwood trees that Pa planted for his family still standing tall, right where he planted them. The Ingalls’ house and barn are gone, but we stood where they were and looked at the trees, a living reminder of the many ways that Pa loved and cared for his family. — Bethany Bethany, Mary Evelyn, John, and Charlene Where the Ingalls Home Once Stood, 1996

12 Laura’s Little Houses: A Guide to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Sites © 2013 Notgrass Company Morning freshness was in the air. Meadow larks were singing, and up from Big Slough rose the thunderpumps with long legs dangling and long necks outstretched, giving their short, booming cry. It was a beautiful, lively morning . . . . Up rose the sun with no effort at all, while they kept walking as fast as they could, north on the prairie road toward the south end of Main Street. — Little Town on the Prairie

Bethany Outside the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society Gift Shop; Mary Evelyn Outside the Brewster School Replica, 1996

Scenes and images from the Ingalls’ time in De Smet often pop into my mind. When I read Proverbs 11:26, I think about Almanzo keeping his grain hidden in the wall during the terrible blizzard. When I see a sleigh, I think about Laura and Almanzo riding back and forth from school and about how cold that would be. When we visited De Smet, our bed and breakfast host told us that the town was a popular destination for tourists from Japan, where reruns of the Little House on the Prairie TV show played around the clock. — John

Almanzo’s father, James Wilder, bought a farm near the town of Spring Valley, Minnesota, in 1870 and moved his family there from New York a few years later. This was Almanzo’s parents’ home for the rest of their lives.Minnesota From Spring Valley, in 1879, Almanzo, along with his older brother Royal and sister Eliza Jane, went west to claim a homestead in Dakota Territory, where he met the Ingalls family. After their difficult early years of marriage, Almanzo, Laura, and Rose went to Spring Valley to stay with the Wilders from May 1890 to October 1891 to rest and recover their health.

What Can SpringYou ValleySee Methodist There Church Museum Today? This building was built in 1876. Almanzo’s father contributed $50 for its construction, which was one of the largest donations made. Almanzo’s sisters Eliza Jane and Laura Ann were baptized and married in the church. Almanzo, Laura, and Rose attended the church when they lived with Almanzo’s parents in 1890-1891. Visitors can see beautiful stained glass windows and extensive displays of historic artifacts. Some of the artifacts are from the Wilder family. BestTrips.guide/springvalley 221 W. Courtland St. Spring Valley, MN 55975 507-346-7659 Wilder Barn The Wilders’ barn still stands on what was once their farm on Tracy Road. The barn is privately owned and is not open for tours, but it is visible from the road. From Spring Valley, head west on Tracy Road. The barn will be on your left. It is a large brown barn with a tall stone Spring Valley Methodist Church foundation. Spring Valley Cemetery Almanzo’s brother Royal is buried here. Also buried in this cemetery are two of Royal’s daughters. You will also find several graves of members of the Ingalls family believed to be distantly related to Laura’s family. Located on 226th Street/Cemetery Road.

Wilderfest Special Event This event is held each year in May and features several bicycle and foot races (including the Almanzo 100 and other races named for members of the Wilder family). Also held during the event is the Eliza Jane Market in Spring Creek Park, which offers booths selling a variety of wares. 14 Laura’s Little Houses: A Guide to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Sites © 2013 Notgrass Company 8 Westville,

Laura’s cousins Peter Ingalls and Joseph Carpenter and Almanzo’s brother Perley Wilder came to the village of Westville, Florida, in 1890, traveling part ofFlorida the way on the Mississippi River. Around this time, Almanzo and Laura began seeking a better climate for Almanzo’s health. Encouraged by cousin Peter, Laura, Almanzo, and Rose traveled by train from Spring Valley, Minnesota, to Westville in October of 1891. They lived there until August 1892, when they returned to De Smet.

The LittleWhat Park in theCan Piney YouWoods See There Today? A great-grandson of Peter Ingalls built this simple park as a memorial to his ancestors. It stands on the property that once belonged to Peter Ingalls. An historical marker has also been placed on the property, located outside of Westville on Road 163 North. Mt. Ida Methodist and Congregational Church Almanzo, Laura, and Rose attended this church on Mt. Ida Road during their time in Westville. Peter, his wife Mary, and their son Alex are buried in the Mt. Ida Methodist and church cemetery. Congregational Church

Ray and Charlene at the Little Park in the Piney Woods, 2013

Rocky Ridge Farm near Mansfield, Missouri, is a testament to the pioneer spirit of determination and hard work held by Almanzo and Laura Ingalls Wilder. They moved there in 1894 and worked hard to make Rocky RidgeMissouri a successful farm. It is a beautiful piece of land with two lovely homes, one built by Almanzo and Laura, and the other built for them much later as a gift from their daughter Rose. Here Laura started her writing career as a columnist for a newspaper for farmers called The Missouri Ruralist. Settled in her happy home at Rocky Ridge, Laura wrote the books we know as the Little House series, telling the story of her special family and the American history they helped to make as brave pioneers settling the West. Almanzo died at Rocky Ridge Farm in 1949 at the age of 92 and Laura died there in 1957 at the age of 90.

Laura Ingalls Wilder HistoricWhat Home Canand Museum You See There Today? Visitors can tour Almanzo and Laura’s Rocky Ridge farmhouse, which was completed in 1913, as well as the Rock House which Rose had built for her parents in 1928. The farmhouse appears as it did in 1957 when Laura passed away. A vegetable garden is maintained on the farm as a tribute to Laura’s passion for gardening. The museum houses many keepsakes from the Ingalls and Wilder families, including Pa’s fiddle, Laura’s needlework, and tools made by Almanzo. Original manuscripts of the Little House books are also on display. One section of the museum is dedicated to Rose’s life and work. BestTrips.guide/rockyridge 3068 State Highway A Mansfield, MO 65704 877-924-7126

Mansfield Town Square In downtown Mansfield stands a bust of Laura, a replica Rocky Ridge Farmhouse of the one that stands in the Hall of Famous Missourians in the Missouri State Capitol building in Jefferson City.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Library The local public library, located on U.S. 60 Business Route, is named after Laura and has a small display related to her life and books.

Mansfield Cemetery Almanzo, Laura, and Rose are buried in this cemetery, located on Lincoln Street.

16 Laura’s Little Houses: A Guide to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Sites © 2013 Notgrass Company After our marriage Almanzo and I lived for a little while in the little gray house on the tree claim. In the year 1894 we and our little daughter Rose left Dakota in a covered wagon and moved to a farm in the Ozarks. We cleared the land and built our own farm house. Eventually we had 200 acres of improved land, a herd of cows, good hogs, and the best laying flock of hens in the country. For many years we did all our own work, but now almost all of the land has been rented or sold. For recreation we used to ride horseback or in our buggy—later on, our Chrysler. We read and played music and attended church socials. — from a letter Laura wrote in the 1950s to readers of her Little House books

Wilder Days Special Events Held on the third weekend in September in downtown Mansfield, Wilder Days features music, vendors, and children’s programs. Special events also take place on Rocky Ridge Farm. Laura’s Memories This musical drama based on Laura’s life is presented during the summer and early autumn of each year in an amphitheatre at Mansfield Recreational Park. BestTrips.guide/memories Christmas at Laura’s Christmas is celebrated in a special way each year at Rocky Ridge Farm in late November or early December. You can see Rocky Ridge decorated with vintage Christmas decorations, taste treats The Rock House made from Laura’s own recipes, and hear music played on Pa’s fiddle.

I read the Little House books when I was in elementary school. Many years later, after Charlene and I had read the books to our children, I enjoyed seeing the house that Laura and Almanzo built at Rocky Ridge Farm. One particular spot that I remember is the desk where Laura wrote her books. So that’s how she did it, I thought, with a pencil and lined paper. I also enjoyed seeing Pa’s fiddle—the real thing!—in the gift shop/ museum. Laura and Almanzo lived most of their adult lives on Rocky Ridge Farm, so going there filled out the picture for me of who they really were. — Ray

If I could choose only one Laura Ingalls Wilder site to visit, it would be Rocky Ridge Farm. What I remember most is the quiet joy I felt as I stood in the front yard of the farmhouse Almanzo and Laura built themselves. This is the place to come to learn, gratefully, that their story of challenges and hardships had a happy ending. You stand in Laura’s kitchen, in their parlor, take in the view of this beautiful piece of land and feel a contentment, knowing that they were happy there. — Bethany

Farmer Boy In Farmer BoyNew, Laura told about Yorkher husband Almanzo’s childhood. Almanzo’s family, the Wilders, had a successful farm in upstate New York, near the town of Malone. The story of Farmer Boy takes place when Almanzo is nine years old. The Wilders had a great deal of livestock and raised many different crops, producing on their farm almost everything they needed.

Wilder Homestead What Can You See There Today? Almanzo’s boyhood home still stands and is open for tours. The barns and outbuildings have been reconstructed according to the descriptions in Farmer Boy. The site also features a museum. BestTrips.guide/malone 177 Stacy Rd. Malone, NY 12953 518-483-1207

Annual HarvestSpecial Festival Events This event is held each year in September at the Wilder Homestead. Some years it includes a Civil War encampment. Enjoy readings from Farmer Boy and special games and activities for children as you sample freshly-made donuts. Celebrate Christmas with Almanzo Visitors to this annual event held at the Wilder Homestead each December can hear the Christmas chapter from Farmer Boy read aloud in the Wilders’ parlor, taste cookies and mulled cider, sing Christmas carols, and take part in special Bethany at the Wilder Homestead, 2002 children’s activities.

A farmer depends on himself, and the land and the weather. If you’re a farmer, you raise what you eat, you raise what you wear, and you keep warm with wood out of your own timber. You work hard, but you work as you please, and no man can tell you to go or come. You’ll be free and independent, son, on a farm. — Farmer Boy

Mary Ingalls attended Iowa College for the Blind (now called Iowa Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired) in Vinton, Iowa. The schoolIowa is still in operation. It is Iowa’s second-oldest educational institution, founded in 1852. Mary Ingalls enrolled in 1881 at the age of 16 and graduated in 1889 at the age of 24.

Iowa Educational ServicesWhat for the BlindCan and VisuallyYou ImpairedSee There Today? The school still operates in the building that Mary attended. It is open for tours Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tours last about 1 1/2 hours. Visitors can see a copy of Mary’s diploma and records of her registration and grades. Call before you visit to confirm availability of a tour. BestTrips.guide/vinton 1002 G Avenue Vinton, Iowa 52349 319-472-5221

“Weren’t you afraid to come all by yourself on the cars?” Carrie asked. “Oh, no,” Mary smiled. “I had no trouble. We like to do things by ourselves, at college. It is part of our education.” She did seem much more sure of herself, and she moved easily around the house, instead of sitting quiet in her chair. — These Happy Golden Years

Iowa College for the Blind, c. 1900

Carrie Ingalls moved to Keystone, South Dakota, in 1911 to manage the Keystone Recorder newspaper.South Carrie had worked withDakota many newspapers around the West during her career, beginning as an apprentice with a newspaper in De Smet. In Keystone she met a widower named David N. Swanzey whom she married in 1912. Carrie then retired from the newspaper to raise his children, Mary and Harold, who were 8 and 6 years old. In 1924, after Caroline Ingalls (Ma) passed away in De Smet, Mary Ingalls came to Keystone to live with Carrie. Mary died in Keystone in 1928. Carrie lived in Keystone until she died in 1946.

Keystone Historical MuseumWhat Can You See There Today? This museum is housed in a schoolhouse built in 1900 that was attended by Carrie’s step-children and step- grandchildren. A variety of historic artifacts are on display, including several items that once belonged to members of the Ingalls family. One of the items that visitors can see is a figurine believed to be Ma’s cherished china shepherdess, which was found among Carrie’s possessions after her death. BestTrips.guide/keystone

Carrie Ingalls Day Special Event Visitors to the Keystone Historical Museum can enjoy a piece of birthday cake each year on August 3, which was Carrie’s birthday.

Keystone, South Dakota, 1940

20 Laura’s Little Houses: A Guide to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Sites © 2013 Notgrass Company Visit notgrass.com or call 1-800-211-8793 for information about the history and government resources available from

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