Famed “Little House on the Prairie” author Laura Ingalls Wilder is celebrating her 150th birthday this year, and Little House fans can still visit many of the places she wrote about, from the little house in the big woods where she was born in Pepin, Wis., in 1867, to De Smet, South Dakota, the setting for the final Little House books.
If you want to do your tour in roughly chronological order, start by flying to Minneapolis (from $399 round trip from Newark) and drive the hour-and-a-half to Pepin; however, it can also be rewarding to do this itinerary in reverse, tracing Laura’s life from the plains of South Dakota back to the woods of Wisconsin.
If that’s your preference, you’ll fly to Sioux Falls, SD (from $480 round trip) and start your journey in De Smet, about an hour-and-a-half northwest of Sioux Falls.
Little House in the Big Woods
Every place Laura lived has a small museum, and Pepin’s one-room display seems appropriate to the author’s humble beginnings. But before you stop there, drive north approximately 7½ miles from town on County Road CC to the Laura Ingalls Wayside. This was Charles “Pa” and Caroline “Ma” Ingalls’ land, and while the woods have been thinned by farming and the log cabin here is a reproduction, this spot still gives a good idea of what life for the family would have been like when Laura was born.
Back in town, visit Pepin’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum on 3rd Street. Most of the artifacts here are period appropriate, though only a handful were actually owned by Laura herself. It’s instructive that many of the items on display, like the grain cradle, are accompanied by quotes from Laura’s books; seeing the artifacts definitely helps bring her writing to life.
Laura actually lived in Pepin twice. In between, Pa hitched up a covered wagon and dragged the family to Independence, Kansas — then Indian Territory — the setting of the book “Little House on the Prairie” (though not the TV show).
Today, the 635-mile drive takes 10 hours — imagine how long it took by wagon–and since nothing but some slim archaeological evidence remains from the Ingalls’ time there, I’ve left it off this itinerary.
Instead, take some time to explore Lake Pepin (a wide spot in the Mississippi River), a charming summer retreat. One good place to stay is the Harbor Hill Inn overlooking the lake (from $119), but if you’re planning your trip for September, book your room early — the weekend of Sept. 9-10 is dedicated to Laura Ingalls Wilder Days, which features craft demonstrations, a fiddle contest, a Laura lookalike contest, and much more.
The Missing Years
After Laura’s family left Pepin the second time, they moved to the area in and around Walnut Grove, Minn. Your drive will ultimately take you there, but first there’s a detour two hours south of Pepin to Burr Oak, Iowa, where the family lived for year but that Laura decided to leave out of her Little House series.
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Park & Museum on 236th Avenue in Burr Oak occupies the former Masters Hotel, which Pa helped manage while Ma cooked meals and Laura and Mary helped staff the restaurant. This is Laura’s only home still in its original location, and the informative tour helps put this period of Laura’s life in context. The weekend of June 23-25, Burr Oak will hosting its own Laura Days, with a 5K run, live music, children’s games, and a “Dress the Goat” contest.
(If you wish to read more about Laura’s time in Burr Oak, HarperCollins commissioned a new “Little House” book a few years ago called Old Town in the Green Groves that covers this time period. It’s not entirely historically accurate, but neither are the other Little House books.)
Seventeen miles south of Burr Oak is the town of Decorah, home to Vesterheim, a museum dedicated to America’s Norwegian heritage. Laura fans will enjoy the displays here, which do a good job of outlining what drew immigrant families to the prairie. The historic buildings on the property are also mostly from Laura’s lifetime. Decorah is your best bet for a place to stay; the Hotel Winneshiek (from $129) was built in 1905 and is the grandest in town.
On the Banks of Plum Creek
Your next stop is Walnut Grove, Minn., home to the infamous Nellie Oleson. Laura describes this phase of her life in “On the Banks of Plum Creek,” and Walnut Grove became the setting for the “Little House” TV series.
It’s at least a four-hour drive from Iowa, so set off early and make your first stop the Harkin Store outside New Ulm, Minnesota. A virtual time capsule from the when this general store shuttered in 1901, this is your best chance to see what the similar Oleson Store would have looked like in its prime.
Next, head to a small wayside attraction called Sod House on the Prairie in Sanborn, Minn., a collection of reconstructed homes that illustrate how settlers persevered in the 1870s when there were virtually no trees on the prairie from which to build homes.
Bypass the town of Walnut Grove itself and drive a mile-and-a-half north on County Road 5 where a sign will point you to the site of Plum Creek and the Ingalls family dugout. While the home itself is long gone, this is a magical spot; you can easily see Laura or Mary playing while Pa built a house nearby; the landscape is nearly unchanged a century-and-a-half.
Return to Walnut Grove and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum, a series of buildings that tell the story of the family’s time in Minnesota as well as chronicling the TV series’ massive popularity.
Visit the Depot Building museum, a reconstructed dugout, and the small settler’s home that was like the one Pa built north of town.
Walnut Grove’s annual celebration of all things Laura is the Wilder Pageant, which begins July 14 and takes place over the last three weekends in July. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the pageant reenacts scenes from the Little House books, bringing the town’s history to life.
There are a number of chain hotels in Walnut Grove, but you may want to push on towards De Smet, your final Laura stop. En route, swing by Pipestone National Monument. Living on the prairie meant living in close proximity to Native Americans and this spot — where Indian groups from around the Midwest still come to quarry and work soft stone for ceremonial pipes — is used today exactly as it would have been in Laura’s day. After hiking the scenic trails, be sure to talk to Native carvers who work in the interpretive center.
Midway between Pipestone and De Smet is the town of Brookings, SD, a good spot to stop for the night; the MyPlace in Brookings (from $89) , with a full kitchen in every room, is a good choice.
Little Town on the Prairie
The final five “Little House” books — “By the Shores of Silver Lake,” “The Long Winter,” “Little Town on the Prairie,” “These Happy Golden Years” and “The First Four Years” — are all mostly set in De Smet, SD, so it’s fitting that this is the most rewarding stop on the Laura tour.
Begin by visiting the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Homes, where you will tour the Surveyors’ House where the family first lived, the school Laura and Carrie attended, a replica of the tiny school where Laura taught, and the home Pa built in town. This guided tour takes about 90 minutes and is worth every minute. (If Stuart is your guide, ask him about the “lone tree.”)
After the tour, walk around downtown De Smet, where plaques on the buildings mark spots significant to the series; be sure to stop at the Loftus Store on Calumet Avenue, a lovely gift shop, that was the town’s general store in Laura’s lifetime.
Next, head out to the De Smet cemetery off US Highway 14, where many members of the family — including Ma, Pa, Mary, Grace, and Carrie — are buried.
For a final stop in De Smet, you can visit the Ingalls’ homestead. A memorial plaque here, near the shores of Silver Lake, commemorates the family. Next door, the Ingalls Homestead features hands-on activities for children and recreated buildings that bring 1870s Dakota Territory back to life.
Like Walnut Grove, De Smet hosts its own Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant on three consecutive weekends in July beginning July 7. To commemorate Laura’s 150th birthday, the weekend of July 14-15 will feature actors Dean Butler (Almanzo Wilder) and Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson) at both the pageant and museum.
Staying in De Smet? Consider the Prairie House Manor Bed & Breakfast (from $99). You’ll need a good night’s rest since it’s a 4½ hour drive back to the Minneapolis airport.