Little Town on the Prairie

Sometimes you don't have to go far to find a treasure!

DeSmet is about two hours from us, and although we go there often to visit family, we had never gone to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant before as a family. 

 

Landen read the series of books this past year, so I decided that this was the summer to go and take in the experience.  Nathan and Teresa didn't know about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family until our tours, but by the end of the day, they were fans, too. 

 

Our day started with a tour of the Surveyor's House, where the Ingalls family lived when they first came to DeSmet, then the first school of DeSmet that Carrie and Laura attended, and a replica of the country school where Laura first taught.

 

A short drive across town took us to the home Charles Ingalls built in DeSmet.  After that, we drove to the cemetery where Charles, Caroline, Mary, Carrie and Grace (with her husband Nathan Dow) are buried.

 

After supper at Uncle Dann and Aunt Michele's house, we returned to the Ingalls Homestead near DeSmet for the pageant.  This year's production was Little Town on the Prairie, which is based on the family's time spent in the DeSmet area. 

 

It was very well done and we had a gorgeous night for the outdoor performance.  Thanks to Michele, the big three even got a ride on a wagon!

 

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society has a wealth of information about the Ingalls family and their descendants as well as many, many artifacts and possessions from the family. 

 

Sadly, though, with no living great-grandchildren born into the family, the last direct descendant of the Charles and Caroline Ingalls family was their granddaughter Rose. 

 

If all you know about Laura Ingalls Wilder is from the TV show, Little House on the Prairie, you MUST read the books.  The TV show was based very loosely on the books and many of the story lines never happened.  (Mary was never married, for example.) 

 

After learning new things (and being reminded of things I had forgotten), I would like to re-read the books, too. 

 

Our family gives the day 12 thumbs up and we highly recommend this day trip.

 

More information can be found on www.liwms.com.