Ingalls by Day

I cannot help but feel kindred spirits with the Ingalls - Aaron and I moved ten times over the first ten years of our marriage. The Ingalls, with only a team of horses and buggy, left Wisconsin to Kansas, back to Wisconsin, to Walnut Grove MN, to Burr Oak IA, back to Walnut Grove MN, back to Wisconsin at some point in there, then finally settle in DeSmet SD....but only after living in four places in DeSmet!

I grew up reading all the Little House books and watching each episode of the TV show multiple times. I KNOW those Ingalls! :) Since Brie has been born, we have watched the entire tv show with Aaron up to the last season and have so far made it through the Little Houss on Plum Creek in the books.

During COVID-19 our lives have definitely been a bit busy. I have been doing two jobs at work without a chance to take a long trip until now. We have been wanting to visit Yellowstone, and because we would drive in order to take all our camping stuff, I thought this would be the perfect time to do the Ingalls thing!

Note - I originally had tacked on Pepin WI to the beginning of our tour (Little House in the Big Woods), but scaled back in order to have a bit more relaxing trip.

Our first stop was Plum Creek in Walnut Grove MN. A private family owns the property of the Ingalls' dugout, but allows guests to visit from sunrise to sunset for $5/car.

We picked up some Hardees' breakfast and arrived to Plum Creek at 8:30am to explore and eat! The weather was perfect upon arrival - crisp 60 degrees with full sun. We quickly took off to find the dugout! You have to cross plum creek on a bridge to reach it. The roof of the dugout has since collapsed, but let me tell you-- it does not take away from the experience!! It is so unbelievably cool to see the depression in the ground from it and see the hill and prairie and creek all around, just as Laura described in her book!

All around the dugout are prairie grasses that Laura described playing in. If we had more time, the site includes a couple of short hiking trails around the grasses.

Brie remarked how much bigger Plum Creek is than she thought it would be. Laura did describe though one time getting caught in a current under the foot bridge though, so I imagine it gets even bigger sometimes!

The final thing about the area-- SO many butterflies!!! We would start walking in the prairie just a bit, and about 20 butterflies would fly out of the grasses! Of course my poor photography skills only let me capture one in a frame at once :( ha

If you've read the books, you also know about the grasshoppers that completely ruined the Ingalls time here. Brie and I kept trying to imagine what that was like to have grasshoppers everywhere for months on end!

After Plum Creek, we drove the two miles back into Walnut Grove. Brie and I discussed how Laura and Mary had to walk to and from school. IWe also imagined the Ingalls getting all bundled up and riding in the buggy into town for Christmas church!

In town, there is a very cool museum with both history and things from the ingalls, as well as a museum with things from the tv show! Brie was immediately enamored by the tv playing an old episode:) But I was super impressed that they had the original fireplace mantle and fiddle from the show!

Outside the museum, they had a replica dugout to let you imagine what it was like to live in one. One word-- small!! I now also realize I didn't get a picture of the inside...just Brie acting crazy outside :)

An original jail cell from the town in the 1800s:

Around Walnut Grove, you can also see the building Pa helped build, the schoolhouse building where the girls attended, the location of their church (now destroyed)....and super cool - you can see the church bell that Pa used his $3 of boot money to help buy, which is still being used by another church in town on Sunday mornings!

Bries favorite purchase in Walnut Grove was a bonnet for her and Lizzy :) Brie continued to wear it the entire rest of the day to bring out her true Laura inside!

Our next stop was two hours west - DeSmet SD! On the way we passed Volga MN, which is where Pa first got his start working for the railroad, which is how the ended up in DeSmet.

We took a tour of the historic places in DeSmet. The first place was the original surveyors house that the Ingalls moved into when they came to DeSmet and that Laura describes as a "mansion", ha. The house is exactly as Laura describes in The Little House at Silver Creek!!

The piano in the house is the original one played by Ma and Mary at their church in DeSmet.

Our next stop was the actual schoolhouse that Laura and Carrie attended in DeSmet until Laura became a teacher herself. The schoolhouse had been converted into a residence, but volunteers have since renovated it back to exactly as it was. They even uncovered original floor boards and parts of the original chalkboard!

Our third stop on the tour was the small schoolhouse that Laura first taught as a teacher (from which Almamzo would pick her up every Friday :)).

The final stop was the absolute cherry on top - the house that Pa built in town (still in it's original location), which Ma and Mary continue to live in until they died. This home is absolutely full of interesting things to see and look at!! I would really like to visit again sometime.

Mary's bible with raised letters in her room:

A picture of Ma in this very room taken by Carrie or Grace (I can't remember now eek!)

After the tour, we visited the graves of everyone in the ingalls family except Laura (who is buried in MO with Almanzo).

Our final stop of the day was the Ingalls homestead in DeSmet. 160 acres acquired through the Homestead Act. They only lived on it less than a year though before moving into town in advance of a bad winter storm. But now you can camp there (for $10/night!) And participate in a lot of pioneer activities overlooking a gorgeous prairie, like driving a buggy, making corn babies, grinding wheat, and washing clothes!