In between my "Little House" stops, I went to St. Louis Missouri to visit my friend Andrea. I stayed there for a few days, benefited from her family's generosity, sat through a hurricane scare, and had a great time together. Oh AND I finally got to see the St. Louis Arch. That was cool.
In 1879, the Ingalls family moved to De Smet, South Dakota. The prairie was wide and spacious and hadn't been settled yet, so Charles Ingalls had his pick of the land. But he had to hurry as many other new settlers were also arriving to stake their claims.
Pa staked his claim on 160 acres on the prairie. Over the next five years, the one-room claim he built grew to a proper house complete with 2 bedrooms and a sitting room.
Ingalls Homestead, in De Smet, is a historical interactive location where travelers can get a glimpse of the life led by one of America's most beloved children's authors. There are covered wagons where you can camp for just $50 a night. I elected to camp in one. Below you will find a few photos, courtesy of the Ingalls Homestead flickr site. The first photo is of the exterior of the covered wagon. If I'm not mistaken I believe this picture is of the same covered wagon I stayed in. The second picture is of the interior. Trying to get into the double bed up top was interesting. I tried taking a running leap to it. That did NOT work. In the end I used the side bunks as a sort of stepladder.
As part of the interactive prairie, you can see....
...a replica of the dugout the Ingalls family lived in when they were in Plum Creek, Minnesota...
...a replica of a one-room schoolhouse from that time period...
(sorry that the littlest one's face is blurred...she moved!! Too bad, she's so adorable! As we walked into the schoolhouse and took our seats, I noticed that my desk was a bit wobbly. I looked at the middle girl, pictured here in the red dress, and said "Hey!!! I've got Carrie's desk!! Remember? From Little Town on the Prairie when they got sent home from school??" Her eyes widened and she smiled as she remembered the passage I was referring to. She then turned to her mother and said about me "Mom, she's the biggest fan of the books EVER!" lol awwww)
...the completed claim shanty that Pa built for Ma aka Caroline Ingalls...
(in the corner is the whatnot shelf that Ellie Boast told the Ingalls women about. She repeated these specifications to Charles Ingalls and he built this for his wife and daughters. After all, he did his best to try to give his family what they needed and wanted!)
(I thought this was a cute addition to the claim shanty. In Little House in the Big Woods, Ma recited this poem to Mary and Laura as a way of reminding them of the work she must do on each given day. "Laura liked the churning and the baking days best of all the week.")
(As Mary was preparing to return home from college in Vinton, Iowa and Laura was preparing to leave home to marry Almanzo, Charles Ingalls sold one of the family's cows and bought a sewing machine for Ma.)
...a garage with all sorts of farm tools and equipment used in that time period AND a wooden coffee grinder that was used during the long winter to grind wheat kernels into flour to make bread. I should mention that at this point in the tour, there's a large passenger wagon that takes you from one end of the prairie to the other, where the one-room schoolhouse sits. It gives you a very small idea of just how unpleasant riding in a wagon all day could be.
(Pictured here is one of the daughters of a WONDERFUL family I met while camping out in the prairie. It's so encouraging to see that families are still taking an interest in the Ingalls and Wilders and everything that their lives and values represented.)
I have to say, the owners of the Ingalls Homestead put a great amount of effort into making sure that even the minor details of the Little House legacy is respected and restored. Many of the actual personal effects of the Ingalls family are no longer in existence. I'm sure they never dreamed that 150 years down the road, people would be looking at their lives as part of our American history so what would be the point of saving their things? However, the town of De Smet and those who are involved in the historical preservation of the Ingalls family have seen to it that authentic period pieces are available for the enjoyment of the visitors to these establishments. Though the fate of Mary Ingalls actual organ is unknown, a very similar organ is in the sitting/sewing room of the Ingalls claim, seen below.
On June 9th I went into town and saw the rest of the Little House sites. More on that in another entry.
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