Check It Out

Several states have a historic Laura Ingalls Wilder house, museum or at least a park. Since Wilder was a true pioneer moving frequently in search of land and opportunity, at least four states may claim to be the home state of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

The setting for the first “Little House” book, Little House in the Big Woods, is located near Lake Pepin in Wisconsin. A log cabin replica now marks the birthplace and early childhood home of Wilder. Another log cabin replica marks the site of Wilder’s second home, which is located on open prairie near Independence, Missouri, the setting for Little House on the Prairie. Soon after Pa (Charles Wilder) built the one-room log cabin, a treaty signed between the Osage Indians and the United States government in 1868 forced all the settlers, including the Wilder family, to leave the Osage Indian Reserve.

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway runs along Highway 14 through southern Minnesota into South Dakota. The sod dugout and “wonderful house” described in On the Banks of Plum Creek are long gone, however, historical markers, a museum and a tourist information center emphasize Laura Ingalls Wilder’s connections to Walnut Grove, Minnesota.

De Smet, South Dakota, the setting for five of the “Little House” books, By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, These Happy Golden Years, and The First Four Years, is where Wilder spent her teen-age years, met and married her husband, Almanzo Wilder, and experienced the joy of the birth of her daughter, Rose. It was also a place of great tragedy for the Wilder family. Laura and Almanzo almost died from diphtheria, their son died 12 days after he was born and their house burned down. The Surveyors’ House, Sigurd Anderson School, Loftus Store, Ingalls Home and Wilder Homestead are among the many historical sites mentioned in the books that may be seen today. Regrettably, the Silver Lake was drained in 1923.

In 1894, Laura and Almanzo Wilder gave up their dream of establishing a permanent home on the prairie and moved to Mansfield, Missouri, where they bought Rocky Ridge Farm. They hoped that the milder climate of the Ozarks would improve Almanzo Wilder’s health, which had continued to decline after his bout with diphtheria. This would be the Wilder family’s last move and Laura Ingalls Wilder would live here until her death in 1957 at age 90. Here she wrote her “Little House” books, starting with Little House in the Big Woods, published 75 years ago in 1932. Even though her books end in De Smet, there are many Wilder sites located in or near Mansfield such as the Laura Ingalls Wilder—Rose Wilder Lane Historic Home and Museum, the Rock House and the Mansfield Cemetery.

Historic sites connected to Laura Ingalls Wilder are scattered from New York to California. The original farmhouse, where Almanzo Wilder was born, in Malone, New York, is the setting for Farmer Boy. There are historic Laura Ingalls Wilder sites in Burr Oak, Iowa and Spring Valley, Minnesota; places Wilder had lived, but did not mention in her books. The original manuscript to Little Town on the Prairie is displayed in the Laura Ingalls Wilder Room of the Pomona Public Library in Pomona, California.

Visiting Laura Ingalls Wilder historic sites is a perfect family summer road trip, that will give children a feel for the daily joys and hardships of pioneer life. Check out these books to plan an educational and entertaining trip back to pioneer days:

Laura Ingalls Wilder Country by William Anderson

Laura’s Album: A Remembrance Scrapbook of Laura Ingalls Wilder
by William Anderson

The Little House Guidebook by William Anderson

Little House in the Ozarks: the Rediscovered Writings by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Pioneer Girl: the Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson

Searching for Laura Ingalls by Kathryn Lasky

The World of Little House by Carolyn Strom Collins