Little Town on the Prairie

 Laura Ingalls Wilder’s series of books, often referred to as the Little House on the Prairie books, were some of my favorites not only in growing up years but repeatedly into adulthood.  As Trish and I make our way westward, we routed our travel to include a couple of days in DeSmet, South Dakota.  This town is the homestead setting for: By The Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, The Little Town on the Prairie, The First Four Years, and These Happy Golden Years.

We visited the homestead site where this reconstructed house just like the one Pa built is open to visitors, as is a reconstruction of the sod house that preceded it.

Back in town, about two miles away, the Surveyors’ Shack, where the Ingalls family lived during The Long Winter of 1880-81 still exists as it did then and is on a special tour of Ingalls’ properties and sites.

This excellent tour included not only the Surveyers’ Shack, but also two of the school buildings where Laura taught, one being the relocated school where she taught at age fifteen during the Long Winter.

We finished our visit with the house which became their permanent home in town as years passed.  We loved walking around DeSmet, which is still about the same size that it was in the Little House days!