Little Homestead on the Prairie

We were on the road by 9:15. We took highway 14 out of Pierre and headed east. Now here was the flat, endless prairie we had heard about. Although it wasn’t really endless, because the prairie would give way to a wheat field, a corn field or a soybean field. We saw farm houses and as we got further east there were more trees; mostly Cottonwoods and cattle. Not being an interstate, 14 isn’t as widely traveled, which we enjoyed; makes us thankful for the larger fuel tank! We saw lots of little squirrel looking animals along the road. I later got this picture of one; some kind of ground squirrel.

We stopped at a roadside rest and had our breakfast. Our destination was De Smet, 160 miles east of Pierre. It is the Laura Ingalls Wilder Mecca. She was the author of the “Little House” series of children’s books and she lived here with her family for 5 years, from 1880 to 1885 and this area was the setting for several of her books. This whole town is dedicated to Laura Ingalls Wilder. I had read all her books when I was a girl. I never did watch the T.V. show “Little House on the Prairie”. I had loved the books very much and the T.V. version was so loosely based on the books, I could never embrace it. That series started in 1974.

Anyway we checked out the three RV hook-up possibilities. The first was the city park, the second was a Passport America member RV park and the third was out at the Ingalls Homestead. We chose the park. We are the only ones here. It is just electric, but that is all we really want; for the a/c. Pretty trees and its grassy. The PA park had too many trees, was right on the roadway and the Cottonwood trees were blowing their cotton; ick. The last one would have been all right but it was outside of town, really dusty and lots of people around until they close after 7. The park is a few blocks from the highway and should be really quiet after dark. It is $9 with electricity.

We got parked around 1 p.m. Got everything set up, had lunch and then headed out to the Ingalls Homestead. It was $7 a piece to get in, but it included a wagon ride and there were interpretive people at each building giving you information about the period. We watched people make a rope from twine and corncob dolls.

This little house picture is a replica built in the exact place of the original. It was built following the plans that Laura's Pa had filed with the government. If you half the part with the porch, that is what they lived in the first year; the back half of that part was added the following year and the right "wing" was added soon after.

We had a lesson in a one room school house that had been in use during the same period but had been moved to this homestead location from several miles away. Also moved here from another location was an original 1878 Claim Shanty. Amazing that something 128 years old could still be so intact. Smaller than our trailer! Families lived in these!









After we got done seeing all there was the see at the Homestead we drove around town and then headed home. I had put dinner in the crock pot before we left so dinner was a cinch. After dinner Lar walked through the trees to the ball field and is watching a ball game while I am doing this. What a life!

The docent in the one room school house gave us something to think about. She is a real school teacher and she told us how back in the one room school they had special ed, accelerated programs and no special funding. They had no such names for it back then. With several grades being taught at once the “slower” children got refresher courses and the “smarter” children were exposed to the lessons of the older children. As we learn from history, progress isn’t always what it is cracked up to be. The simpler ways often work the best!
This is a view of about half of the homestead from the south/west corner. The trees are where the homestead buildings are.