Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum…A Little House on the Prairie
At the beginning of “The Little House on the Prairie” series, Laura talks about all the people they are leaving behind and then she says, “Though it made me sad, I still thought it a fine thing to go where there had never been a road”. Later, she says, ” I knew there’d be rivers to cross and hills to climb, and I was glad. For this is a fine land and I rejoiced that I would see it”. These lines resonate with me so deeply. The fear, the joy, and the anticipation that comes with setting out to try something new. I think that is one of the reasons that Laura Ingalls Wilder is so beloved. She captured the innocence of childhood, but also confronts the challenges that comes with new adventures.
There are several places in the midwest that provide history on Laura Ingalls Wilder ‘s life and her stories. On this trip, I visited the homes where Laura did much of her writing. When visitors first get to the museum, they will go into the museum to get their ticket. I planned my visit of the museum around the times that the tours happening at the two houses. The museum is open during their business hours, but visitors can only have access to the houses on the tours, which only take place at certain times.
The first house that visitors encounter is the historic farmhouse and this is the first house that Laura, Almonzo, and Rose lived in. Later, Rose also became a successful author and had the rock house with modern conveniences built for her parents. Laura wrote the first four books of the series in the rock house. Almonzo and Laura lived in the rock house for several years, but later decided to return to the historic farmhouse.
A few things to note. I would suggest taking a look at their website before visiting: Laura Ingalls Wilder Home & Museum. The website includes times of year that the museum and homes are open, business hours, and history about the houses. Also, they have a strict policy of not taking pictures in the house.
Resources
Below is the series written by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
The museum has a teacher’s guide for educators. For each book in the series, the teaching guide has a summary, prompts for group discussion, journal writing prompts, and questions that compare life now to what life was like during the books.
There is also a plethora of texts that talk about Laura’s life.
West from Home: Letters of Laura IngallsWilder San Francisco, 1915 by Laura Ingalls Wilder; Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Westville Florida Years by Alene M. Warnock; The Horn Book’s Laura Ingall’s Wilder edited by William Anderson; Writings to Young Women from Laura Ingalls Wilder: On Life as a Pioneer Woman edited by Stephen W. Hines; I Remember Laura by Stephen W. Hines; Dear Laura: Letters from Children to Laura Ingalls Wilder; Laura’s Album: A Remembrance Scrapbook of Laura Ingalls Wilder compiled by William Anderson
Activities/ Discussion Questions
Look at a map and track Laura’s journey throughout the series. Pretend you are a tour guide and create an agenda for taking people on a trip to see all of the sites connected with the series. You could also include places that might not be directly connected with the series, but might be of interest to the group.
Read the books and then watch the TV show, compare and contrast the book and the TV show.
If you have read one of the books and enjoyed it, find other friends who have enjoyed the books and create a book club.
Build your own model of one of Laura’s houses.
A tip from someone who has been there.
In the last few years, I have come to enjoy gardening. The Baker Creek Seed Store is one of those companies that is often talked about by gardeners and homesteaders. My mom and I visited the seed store while we were in Mansfield. It is only about 15 minutes away from the museum. I picked up some really cool heirloom seeds that I will try planting in the spring.
Right across the street from the museum is an RV park and behind the RV park are some cabins. My mom and I stayed in the cabin pictured below. It was not fancy…no internet and no TV, but it was clean and the owners are nice. It is also one of the only places to stay in the area, so I would recommend it if you are looking for accommodations and are looking for a few frills set up. The owner of the cabins said that there was a cave on their property where Rose got lost when she was little. She gave us permission to go see it, but we were ready to get home and did not take her up on it. So, if you stay there, you might want to take advantage of that.
