by We’d recently visited the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) in Pepin, Wisconsin, which was underwhelming. However, De Smet, South Dakota, not only has more of a claim to Wilder and her family, it has more artifacts and buildings, too.
Per the town’s website, “Laura grew up on her family’s homestead, attended school in De Smet’s first school, worked her first job on our main street, went courting with Almanzo across the prairie, and started her own family here in De Smet.”
On our way into town we stopped at the Wilder Homestead, which is now just a historical marker where Laura and her husband Almanzo had their farm and experienced the birth of their daughter Rose in 1886.
Their unnamed son was also born here in 1889, though he died before he was a month old. Life here was captured in her book The First Four Years. There’s just the farmed land to look at today, no buildings survive.
The big stop in De Smet for us was the tour we did with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society. In addition to an exhibit room with lots of family memorabilia, you get to visit the restored railroad surveyors’ shanty where the Ingalls family spent the winter of 1879-1880 (covered in By the Shores of Silver Lake); the original school attended by Laura and her sister Carrie (see cover photo); and the Ingalls home built by Laura’s father Charles in 1887.
Laura’s father and mother both died while living in the home (the family occupied the home until 1928), so it has a long connection to the family. However, Laura herself was married by the time the home was built, so while she visited, she did not actually live there.
The Wilder’s early married life was full of misfortune. In addition to the death of their son, they both suffered from a terrible case of diphtheria, their home burned down, and their farm failed to thrive due to drought. The diphtheria caused life-long health issues for Almanzo, eventually causing them to relocate to Florida.
They didn’t like the climate in Florida and shortly returned to De Smet, but after two years, it was clear they were not going to thrive in South Dakota.
In 1894 they relocated to Missouri, where they spent the rest of their days (and where Laura wrote her famous books).
Our final stop was the De Smet Cemetery, where Laura’s parents Charles and Caroline are buried, along with Laura’s sisters Carrie, Mary, and Grace, and Laura and Almonzo’s infant son.
In addition, one can attend the annual Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant held in De Smet in July, and visit the Ingalls Homestead. We were too early (and not interested anyway) in the Pageant, and the Homestead charges $20 a person to visit what is really just the land that Laura’s parents, Charles and Caroline, farmed. Today you can take a covered wagon ride, learn hay twisting and wheat grinding (as covered in Laura’s book, The Long Winter), and wash clothes the old-fashioned way, among similar activities. Perhaps you can see why we weren’t willing to pay $20 each for that.
While driving around, South Dakota and into Nebraska, we listed to Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser (affiliate link). This book really covers the lives of Laura, her family members, and her daughter.
It was very interesting to listen to while being in the same places and landscapes she experienced.
Garth Williams was the illustrator hired in 1947 to illustrate the series (affiliate link) for a new generation of readers. He met with Laura and traveled to relevant locations in study for his work. The exhibit room featured some original hand-drawn illustrations.
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