Little House and Rocky Ridge Farm

I don't know why, but as a kid I was addicted to the Little House on the Prairie books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I didn't read Anne of Green Gables until I was an adult. So my imagination was shaped more by the descriptions of prairie grass, Midwestern winters, railroads, etc. than it was by Anne's Prince Edward Island. Wilder's books are aimed at considerably younger audience than Montgomery's, but I recall an annual re-read of the Little House series through my teenage years. And get this - I have never seen an entire episode of the Little House TV series. .

Last Tuesday, we woke up in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where I spent the first 9 years of my life. It was easy to immediately be reminded of Laura Ingalls Wilder's descriptions of the south Kansas prairie, and of my own fascination with the story. As we drove up Hwy 75 toward Independence, Kansas, I was shocked to see signs for the site of the Little House on the Prairie. My husband, being just that awesome, followed the signs and we stopped at a little grove of trees surrounding a log cabin and some other old buildings.I grew up thirty miles from it, and traveled that same road frequently to visit my grandparents in Kansas City, and never saw this place!!

Back in the '70s, history enthusiasts were able to locate the precise place where Charles Ingalls built a log cabin and dug a well for his family. The cabin was long gone but the foundation remained, as did the well. And that's how this little tourist trap (it can be called little else) was put up. You can read a lot about it here: http://www.littlehouseontheprairie.com We got pictures which I'll post later. I was just so enthralled by this place, you have no idea! The prairie is largely as wide open as it was in Laura's day, and it's very easy to imagine being a little girl there.

Later that week, on Thursday, we drove south from St. Louis down to Neosho, taking a highway out of Jefferson City. I happened to notice on the map that our route took us through Mansfield, which Wilder readers will recall is where the Wilders settled in 1894. We wouldn't make it in time to tour the home and museum, but we did get pictures of Rocky Ridge Farm, and the Wilder graves (which, as you might imagine, was kind of an emotional moment for me).

I was just so excited to be able to visit two of the Ingalls/Wilder homesteads on this trip. We're supposed to have our family reunion in South Dakota in two years - I fully intend to go to De Smet and see the Ingalls homestead there as well!