Anna's Awesome Adventures!!!: Little House Trip Day #3

This morning we slept in until 7:30, then enjoyed a nice breakfast of French toast, sausages, fruit salad, and juice. We headed out to to the Wilder Homestead & Birthplace of Rose Wilder Lane. It really is just a little marker off the side of the road. You can look and see the hillside where their claim shanty was but it is now private land so you can't actually go up there. If you drive on up South Dakota Highway 25, you'll also see the trees from their tree claim. Again, it's a private residence, but you can still gaze upon it and imagine Laura and Almanzo there many years ago.

Next, we headed for the De Smet Cemetery. This lovely, secluded, peaceful, well-kept place is the final resting place of Pa and Ma Ingalls, Carrie Ingalls, Grace Ingalls Dow and her husband Nate Dow, Laura and Almanzo's baby son, and many of the Ingalls' friends.

Next we headed for the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Homes Tour (in town). This excellent guided tour (we spent at least two hours) starts in the visitor center, where you can see the "Laura's Legacy" display. It features artifacts relating to each individual story and all of the books in numerous languages. We got to see one of Laura's nightgowns, Carrie's summer dress and jewelry, a quilt made by Rose, and lots more. Next, you head for the Surveyor's House, the actual home in By the Shores of Silver Lake. It was moved to its current location in 1885. You'll also see the first school of De Smet, built in 1880 and restored in 1999; a replica of the Brewer School, where Laura had her first teaching assignment (it's tiny); and the Ingalls home on Third Street, which Pa built and Pa and Ma died at. All of the places feature accurate furnishings and accessories. I liked the pump organ and fiddle in the home on Third Street -- you can actually try them!

We had some lunch (tuna-cheese wrap, trail mix, clementine, juice, water) and then checked out the Discovery Center, which features tons of hands-on kid-themed activities. You can play school and kitchen, dress up, learn Braille, weave, try a sewing machine (the old kind, with a foot pedal), and lots more. It's a nice opportunity for children to try out those things they just read about.

We finished with the De Smet Depot Museum & Harvey Dunn School, a free and cute little spot. It is quite an eclectic mix of anything and everything, ranging from women's dresses to South Dakota animals (taxidermy) to a Model T. It's all honoring the history of De Smet, housed in three separate buildings. The Harvey Dunn School is a one-room schoolhouse attended by artist Harvey Dunn for nine years and features many of his famous paintings of the prairie and some lesser-known World War I drawings. We even saw the original fire bell.

After that nice day, we headed for historic Loftus Store (it's in Laura's books) to look around and get a few things, then to supper at Wards Store & Bakery. Very fast, friendly service; I enjoyed lasagna, green beans, garlic toast, pecan pie, and water, yummy!

To round out our second day in De Smet, we headed to "These Happy Golden Years Pageant". The gates opened at 6 p.m. and there were free wagon rides (a real wagon today, pulled by Percherons or mules), photo opportunities, and a nice little newspaper/program to read. At 8 p.m., the show started with introductions by state, then the pageant. It's entirely put on by local people and so well done. It was a very accurate representation of the book, too. We really enjoyed our two days in De Smet. If you ever come here, it's best to spend two days...there's so much great stuff to do! We'll be in Walnut Grove (Minnesota) tomorrow, which is our longest and craziest day, so we'll see about blogging. I'll be back for sure on Sunday night.