Little House on the Prairie

“The true way to live is to enjoy every moment as it passes; it is in the every day things around us that the beauty of life lies.”

Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of Little House on the Prairie

I read a portion of the Little House on the Prairie series to Ella many years ago. But when I found myself increasingly busy with little boys and babies and homeschooling, she continued reading them on her own. She loved them so much every time we went to the library, she’d go straight to that section of shelves to enjoy Laura’s beautifully painted word pictures of life on the prairie. 

I wish I could go back and get that 9-year-old Ella and bring her on this trip with us to the Ingalls Homestead. She would have been in heaven. It would have literally been her dream to camp in the very spot where Laura wandered the fields and helped Pa with the hay and watched the big blue sky stretch out above her.

But even as a 15 year-old, she still found a little slice of heaven here.

And so did I.

Over the last couple years, I read the entire series to Griffin. I’ve heard it said The Little House on the Prairie books are for little girls and this definitely isn’t the case. If you have young children, I cannot recommend this series enough. It is such an enjoyable way to learn about a fascinating time in history where people persevered in resourcefulness and hard work, living true contentment and breathing in the richness of family life.

Griffin and I loved these books. We would snuggle in our rocking chair with my coffee, his chocolate milk, and transport ourselves back to a simpler time. 

When planning our route for this full-time RVing adventure I looked up places we could visit where Laura lived. I was beyond excited to discover we could actually camp on the Ingalls Homestead in De Smet, South Dakota. (Yes, I realize this makes me a major homeschooling nerd. I’m totally ok with that.)

This location is the setting for a number of the Little House on the Prairie books, including The Long Winter. (My favorite!) The family faces the worst winter in decades and fights each day just to survive. It’s inspiring and eye opening and gives so much perspective. Reading books to our kids about how people handle hardship is tremendously character forming. The lessons in these books are rich.

De Smet is close to the middle of nowhere. Which really just means it’s surrounded by slow-paced, refreshing beauty. Fortunately for us, it was on our route from the Black Hills of South Dakota (also a must see!) to Minnesota. We camped here in our RV for 2 nights, but I wish it was longer.

The Ingalls Homestead

Visiting the original land where Pa first staked his claim in 1880 is like stepping back in history. This land is owned by the sweetest family who run the activities on the homestead. They have recreated everything with such accuracy and detail. The Ingalls’ home has been reconstructed according to the specifics filed in his homesteading papers. It’s historically informative while also being so enjoyable to explore. 

There is a covered wagon ride, horse and pony rides, and all kinds of hands on learning activities. We ground the wheat in the coffee grinder just like they did in The Long Winter and made corn cob dolls (or corn cob super heroes). And we learned how they twisted the hay into tight bundles for longer burning when they ran out of coal for their fire. 

Everything is open to explore and enjoy, including playing the organ in the Ingalls house and sewing on the antique sewing machine. And, when you camp here, it’s open to you all night long. We stayed long after closing hours in the barn with the baby calves and brand new kittens and chatted with the sweet lady who feeds them at night. Just like everyone else there, she wasn’t in a hurry and answered questions and told us stories and even let Griffin feed the calf.

There is a dugout house on the property too, similar to the one where the Ingalls lived during On the Banks of Plum Creek. Laura made it sound so exciting to live in a mud house, under the ground. But walking in there totally creeped me out and I would have had nightmares of worms and snakes crawling all over me if I had to sleep in there. Pioneers were hard core people. 

There is so much to see and do at the Ingalls’ Homestead. And the people working there make it such an enjoyable experience. 

We arrived almost at closing time but we never would have guessed it by how inviting and welcoming everyone was. Our door was broken on the 5th wheel and we couldn’t figure out how to get in. (Eventually, we shoved Grady through the tiny open window and prayed fervent prayers he’d be able to open the door from the inside for the first time in his life.) While trying to figure our issues out, several of the staff kept coming by to check on us and offer help. And one of them said he’d give us a wagon ride whenever we were ready. There was no rushing, no closing time feeling.

They genuinely cared about us and our experience there. And when I joked that we almost had to sleep in the claim shanty, one of them said, “Oh, you totally should!”

Now that would feel authentic.

De Smet

We ventured into De Smet on a Sunday. Almost the entire town was closed. Although this made it feel a bit like a ghost down, it was so incredibly refreshing to see a place where everything shuts down on Sundays.

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society was open. Here you can tour several locations from the book including the original Surveyors House where the Ingalls lived during their first winter in De Smet, the first school of De Smet, and the Ingalls’ home. You can also pick up a map of town that shows you other significant locations.

We walked Calumet Ave where some buildings have signs on them sharing their historical significance in relation to the books. We saw where the Ingalls lived during the long winter in Pa’s store and where Almanzo and his brother lived. And there was the location where Laura ordered her name cards and the store where the girls bought Pa suspenders for his birthday. 

Ella, Griffin and I had so much fun stepping back in history. (And the rest of them humored us…) 

If you are a Little House on the Prairie fan, you will absolutely love the Ingalls Homestead and the De Smet tour. And if you aren’t a fan yet… well, it’s time to read the books.