Little House on the Prairie Sites

It was so wonderful to be there, safe at home, sheltered from the winds and the cold. Laura thought that this must be a little bit like Heaven, where the weary are at rest. She could not imagine that Heaven was better than being where she was, slowly growing warm and comfortable, sipping the hot, sweet, ginger tea, seeing Ma, and Grace, and Pa and Carrie, and Mary all enjoying their own cups of it and hearing the storm that could not touch them here.

Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Long Winter, page 94

Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family experienced the last wave of the pioneer movement when they traveled by covered wagon across Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, and Iowa. They finally settled in DeSmet, South Dakota where Laura met and married a young homesteader named Almanzo Wilder. After various relocation efforts, Laura and Almanzo settled in Mansfield, Missouri (1894) and lived there for the remainder of their lives.

Here is a list of the sites you can visit today. When writing to any of the sites, please enclose a SASE. I have listed them in the order Laura Ingalls Wilder experienced them in her books.

Little House in the Big Woods Site
(This is where Laura Ingalls Wilder was born)

Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society
Box 269
Pepin, Wisconsin 54759

No one who has not pioneered, can understand the fascination of it because everything came at us out of the west... storms, blizzards, grasshoppers, burning hot winds and fires...yet it seemed that we wanted nothing so much as we wanted to keep going west!
Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House on the Prairie Site

Little House on the Prairie, Inc.
P.O. Box 110
Independence, KA 67301

Out in the meadow, I picked a wild sunflower and as I looked into its golden heart such a wave of homesickness came over me that I almost wept. I wanted mother, with her gentle voice and quiet firmness; I longed to hear father's jolly songs and to see his twinkling blue eyes; I was lonesome for the sister with whom I used to play in the meadow picking daisies and wild sunflowers.

Across the years, the old home and its love called to me and memories of sweet words of counsel came flooding back...
Laura Ingalls Wilder

On the Banks of Plum Creek Site

Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum
P.O. Box 58
Walnut Grove, MN 56180

"In those days," Laura remarked, "once people started going West, they usually kept going, making stops along the way."
Laura Ingalls Wilder

Burr Oak Site
(This is where Laura and he family lived between On the Banks of Plum Creek and By the Shores of Silver Lake)

Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum
P.O. Box 354
3603 236th Avenue
Burr Oak, IA 52131
(319)735-5916

The last five Little House books took place at this site. The books include:

By The Shores of Silver Lake
The Long Winter
Little Town on the Prairie
These Happy Golden Years
The First Four Years

The Site:
 Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society
Box 344
DeSmet, SD 57231
(605)854-3383

Rocky Ridge Farm
(This is where Laura and Almanzo Wilder lived after leaving South Dakota. Laura wrote the Little House books here...This is the only site I have visited so far and it’s definitely worth the trip for serious Laura Fans)

Laura Ingalls Wilder - Rose Wilder Lane Museum and Home
RT. 1, Box 24
Mansfield, MO 65704
(417)924-3626

Other Sites:

Farmer Boy Site
(This is where Almanzo Wilder grew up)

Almanzo & Laura Ingalls Wilder Association
P.O. Box 283
Malone, NY 12953
(518) 483-1207

Laura Ingalls Wilder Site
(Home of Almanzo's Parents)
S.V. Historical Society Church & House Museums
220-221 W. Courtland St.
Spring Valley, MN 55975

Keystone, South Dakota
(Keystone was the final home to both Carrie and Mary)

Keystone Area Historical Society and Museum
Box 177
Keystone, SD 57751
(605) 666-4494

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