June 3rd - Little House: the later years

I grew up reading the "Little House" books and as an adult I've always wanted to travel to the places where the Ingalls family lived. I finally got my wish this summer. Due to its location, I visited Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri before I saw the main Little House lands.

Laura Ingalls married Almanzo Wilder in August of 1885 in De Smet, South Dakota. After nine years of trying unsuccessfully to farm in the Dakota prairies, the Wilder family moved to Mansfield Missouri, the land of the Ozarks. It was really beautiful in this part of the country. So many expansive green rolling hills as far as the eye could see. Almanzo bought forty acres and called the place "Rocky Ridge" due to the amount of rocks all over the soil.

In time, and with good old-fashioned hard work, Laura and Almanzo built their own house on their own land. It was at this same house that Laura wrote the "Little House" series. Below is a picture of the front of the house.



From the stones on their land, Laura and Almanzo built a chimney for their fireplace.


Years later, Almanzo said "When I look around the farm now and see the smooth green rolling meadows and pastures...I can hardly bring back to my mind the rough, rocky, brushy, ugly place that we first called Rocky Ridge Farm." Even after the farm lived up to its potential for beauty, the Wilders still called it Rocky Ridge as Almanzo said "to remind us of the battles we have fought and won."