Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!
Little House on the Prairie in South Dakota»
We visited the town of DeSmet, South Dakota on our road trip across the state. For fans of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House series, this area is famous for serving as the setting for five of the nine books in the series. The town hosts pageants during the summer months, the graves of the Ingalls and Wilder families are in the nearby cemetery, and the ‘House That Pa Built’ serves as a living history museum.
In real life, the Ingalls moved to Dakota territory from Minnesota after a catastrophic crop failure. Charles Ingalls worked for a relative on the railroad while looking for a homestead in South Dakota for his family. After the events of The Long Winter, Pa gave up on homesteading, bought property in the town of Desmet and built the house in 1887.
As the Ingalls family became more prosperous, they added on to the home. Today, costumed tour guides provide in depth tours of the home and the outbuildings the museum has acquired. After touring the site, we attended the pageant which was a live performance of These Happy Golden Years out in the prairie by the original homestead plot.
Location: 210 3rd Street Southwest in De Smet, South Dakota.
Designation: NRHP
Date designated or established: April 21, 1975
Date of my visit: 8/1/2009
I sure loved those books (and the TV show)!
Me too!
I want to go there! Thank you ❤️
Glad you enjoyed my post 😊
I visited the site in Kansas many years ago. I hope that I can see this one too.
Kansas was the first log cabin after they left Wisconsin, right? Is there much there?
Not a whole lot, but it was nice to see.
I very much want to go there … once we can travel abroad again.
Hopefully soon we can travel 🙏🏻🙏🏻
We ❤️ Little House on the Prairie!
Me too!
I’ve been to a couple of Ingalls sites, including DeSmet. I was there too early for a tour of the in-town property, but did go out and walk around the homestead. The other place I’ve visited is Burr Oak, Iowa. I see some similarities between the Ingalls family moves and the places my ancestors lived. They probably had some similar experiences, which is one reason I enjoyed her books so much.
Interesting! I didn’t know there was one in Iowa
It’s a rooming house the family worked at for about a year.
Love the last photo of the fiddler!
Thanks so much 😊
Definitely going to have to check this out someday! Never knew of it.
It’s a nice little town 💜
We stayed a night there in DeSmet in a covered wagon. At that time I hadn’t read the Little House series, but I have since read them all. In fact, I’ve even started to blog about it. I’m taking my time, but DeSmet will likely be my next post in this blog series. If you’re interested here’s my post about Walnut Ridge: https://godsgreatworld.wordpress.com/2019/02/12/wilder-side-of-life-4-on-the-banks-of-plum-creek/
Cool 😎. We stayed in a cute B&B. Will check out your post
Definitely have to stop there when we go through that part of the country. My grandmother used to call me Laura because I looked very similar to Melissa Sue Gilbert. Long dark braids and freckles. 😊 great post!
Thanks 😊. At least she didn’t call you Half Pint😃
Well, my grandpa did. I was a little thing. I only grew to be 5’1”. 😂😂😂
I just had the most delightful flash book to my childhood books of Little House on the Prairie! Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed my post 😊