We slept in until 8:30 today and had breakfast (bagel with cream cheese, orange juice), then headed for Spring Valley, Minnesota. This may be a site you hadn't heard of related to Laura. She never wrote a book about it. Her husband Almanzo's family (the Wilders) moved here from Malone, New York, in the 1870's. Laura, Almanzo, and Rose lived with the Wilders in 1890, after the events portrayed in The First Four Years. After a quick lunch at a park near the museum (chicken-bean-cheese wraps, cracker, clementine, trail mix, juice), we toured the Methodist Church Museum, the Washburn/Zittleman House, and the Agriculture Building. The museum is housed in a beautiful church built from 1876-1878, featuring Italian stained glass windows believed to be about 300 years old. There are a lot of artifacts from area churches and some portable display boards on Laura and the Wilders in Spring Valley. The Washburn/Zittleman House is a home from about the time the Wilders lived in Spring Valley and is furnished appropriately. It was donated by a Spring Valley doctor and his family. The agriculture building houses a large quantity of farm implements, tools, and a Ford Model A. It's quite an interesting museum with such an eclectic collection. To round out Spring Valley activities, we went to the Spring Valley Cemetery (Royal Wilder and his two young daughters are buried there...Royal was Almanzo's brother) and took pictures from the road of the Wilder barn. It is privately owned.
We headed for Pepin, Wisconsin, next -- Laura's birthplace! Since it was fairly late in the afternoon, we just did a couple of non-admission activities. We went to Oakwood Cemetery, final resting place of the Carpenter family (Martha Quiner Carpenter was Laura's aunt) and Anna Barry (Laura and Mary's first teacher). We also went to Lake Pepin, the widest naturally-occurring part of the Mississippi River. It is such a beautiful place, with cool breezes blowing, the waves lapping at the shore, and the sun gleaming off the water. We waded in it and picked up pebbles, just like in Little House in the Big Woods. But we weren't greedy like Laura -- we didn't take so many as to make our pockets rip! Supper was at the Pickle Factory, a historic former pickle factory, where we had salads, fried cheese curds, Hawaiian pizza, water, and cheesecake drizzled with raspberry sauce. My godmother Val and I trotted and cantered like horses out on a rock dike into Lake Pepin. Before galloping back in, we stood and gazed at the sky ablaze with gorgeous sunset colors. It doesn't matter how many sunsets I've seen, they're all so beautiful. I could never tire of them.
We stayed at the Pepin Motel (nice big rooms, clean, comfortable) and were in bed at 11:00 p.m.
Spring Valley (Minnesota) Methodist Church Museum
Wilder barn in Spring Valley, Minnesota
Oakwood Cemetery in Pepin, Wisconsin
Lake Pepin
~Anna
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