Friday, September 14, 2007

Looking for Laura Ingalls, Part 2: DeSmet SD



I’m a little late in getting back to vacation posts—as this was almost a month ago—there’s been too much other stuff going on. Last time, we were looking for Laura Ingalls in the Big Woods of Wisconsin. This post is about our trek out to South Dakota. The picture of DeSmet’s water tower is framed by one of the cottonwoods planted by Charles Ingalls when he homesteaded this property in the 1880s.



DeSmet South Dakota was the highlight of the trip. We spent two nights there, staying on Pa’s quarter section homestead and sleeping in a covered wagon. Well, it wasn’t exactly the same type of wagon that Laura and family traveled in all over the Midwest. It was better. This was a sheepherder’s wagon that had been outfitted with extra bunks. It had a screen door, electricity and included a fan! I don’t know Ma and Pa and the girls did it without a fan, for it came in handy when the wind died. The Ingalls’ homestead is a neat place. During the day they have all kinds of programs designed for kids, teaching them the skills Laura and Ma used to on the Prairie. My daughter had a wonderful time, playing with the animals, attending a one room school, talking to all the workers and showing off her knowledge about Laura. She fed an orphan calf milk, played with barn cats for hours, drove a team of horses, shucked corn among other stuff. Dressed in a pinafore and bonnet, she looked the part running out across the grass. Only her flip-flops gave her away.



Driving from Pepin, we took the fast way to DeSmet, dropping down to I-90 and taking it across Minnesota. I thought it might be fun to stop at the Spam Museum in Austin, MN. After explaining that Spam isn’t only unwanted emails but also a famous yet mysterious form of canned meat, I was quickly outvoted. My daughter is on her way toward becoming a vegetarian anyway and probably didn’t need any encouragement which I’m sure the museum would have provided. If ever I again pass through Austin by myself, I’ll be sure to tour the Spam museum. At least it’ll make a great blogging post and since it’s free, what’s there to lose. I drove on into South Dakota and missed my turn (I was going to take the interstate up to Brookings and then to DeSmet) so I ended up coming to DeSmet from the south, passing by the place where Laura first taught in a one room school. We found the Ingalls Homestead, checked out our wagon adobe, and then heading into town for some evening grub. After dinner, we went back to the homestead and a peaceful evening watching the light change on the prairie. That night, storms rolled through the area, but they were either north or south of us. I went outside and spent half and hour enjoying the lightning show. The air was cool and dry, the sky was big, It felt like I was back in the West.


The next morning, we were treated with a beautiful sunrise. We drove into town for breakfast (it’s only a mile or so away), then came back to do all the stuff at the homestead. After we spent the morning there, we went back into town and spent the afternoon touring the town, going through the Surveyor’s House (where the Ingalls’ lived when they first got to town and was the location for the novel, The Long Winter. We also toured the house that Ma and Pa later built after Pa gave up homesteading, the Depot Museum which is in the old station for the Chicago Northwestern Railroad (now the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern). The museum also had information on Harvey Dunn. I’d seen his paintings before and liked his style. “The Prairie is My Garden” is his most famous painting, but he also painted many military scenes for the American Legion magazine as well as even some works depicting the human body. We also went to the graves of Ma and Pa and out to the site where Laura and Almanzo first lived. That night, we came back to the wagon for a cookout (I’d brought my smallest Dutch oven and fixed a cobbler to top off the feast).

Pa's Grave in the Ingall family plot.



Our final day in DeSmet was a Sunday. We decided to go to church where Laura attended, so we headed back into town and found the old Congregational Church which is now a Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. The service was okay even though the pastor (who’d been retired for sometime and was filling in) could have been a contemporary of Laura’s. The Ingalls and Wilder’s attended the Congregational Church and Pa helped raise money to buy the church’s bell. Sometime in the past (it looks to be in the 50s or 60s) the Congregationalists built a new church (one of those hideous A-framed churches that was popular back then). The bell that came out of the old church is now on display beside the Congregationalists Church A frame. After church was over, we left DeSmet for Walnut Grove, Minnesota. I hated to leave the prairies, for I knew it meant that I had to go back East, but it was time. I’ll write about Walnut Grove in a future post.
These last photos are of the replica of the Ingalls' "little house" on their homestead and a picture of the land and sky, looking toward the slough where Pa knew he could always cut grass for the animals. For a poem I wrote after watching the sunrise on the prairie, click here.

28 comments:

  1. Wow...great post Sage! Loved the pics too.

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  2. What a lovely experience for you and especially your daughter - I love following in people''s footsteps and I want to sleep in a covered wagon before I die. Thank you for sharing and Michele says hi!

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  3. Great post, indeed. Hi, here from Michele's. This post is so good, I'm going to recommend my girls come take a look. The live in MO and TX and when they were little, "Little House" was a staple TV program at our house.

    Thanks. This is a wonderful post.

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  4. I have never gone on a themed vacation but now I think I want too.

    I don't think I could have lived with the Ingalls because they only had one window, at least on the visible sides of their house.

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  5. You make me want to watch all the reruns again on The Family Channel.

    And "give me a home where the buffalo roam..." keeps playing in my mind.

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  6. The picture of your daughter running across the grass with the two buildings in the background is simply gorgeous. It sounds like the two of you had a great time.

    Nice poem and a beautiful picture with it. I guess I missed it when you first posted it.

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  7. I'm here again via Michele - which is no hardship as I get to look at the pics again

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  8. Thanks Joe.

    Pi, she did have a good time and learned something too

    Paul, invite 'em over. Thanks.

    Ed, this is the first "theme vacation" as such we've taken. But I often read about where I am going--my first driving trip across the US involved reading Mark Twain's Roughing It--as I drove along I-80, following the path he took along the overland trail. There were a few more windows in the house--but not many.

    Scarlet, to be where the buffalo roams...

    Thanks Dan, and you too Pi for revisiting.

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  9. Thanks for visitin my blog earlier.. I don't write about the Oregon Trail on my blog.. but I've recently started a novel about a woman finding herself on the voyage..

    I've been fascinated with the Trail for a couple years specifically-since studying its history at Oregon State. Now I'm trying to get an MA in History in Alabama. I simply love history.

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  10. I love the wagon you stayed in! And what a wonderful time on the farm for your daughter . . .

    p.s. there's a reason even preacher's get forced into retirement . . . :-) Our family pastor came out of retirement for my brother's wedding and the ceremony was borderline incoherent

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  11. Shelby, Enjoy your studies... I'm sure you found out that there are many many journals available from those traveling west--and the majority are by women.

    Diane, It was a cool wagon. When I was in Utah, I had the opportunity on a couple of occassion to have a mutton lunch in such actual wagons--I would occassionally ride with a friend to check on his herder and his sheep when they were up in the mountains or out in the Nevada desert in the winter. The herder would always have mutton prepared for our lunch. As for the preacher, he wasn't bad and was certainly coherent, just old.

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  12. Melissa Gilbert is today a beautiful (married) woman. But everything I've read about the late Michael Landon and how well he treated the cast is heartwarming.

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  13. Those pictures make me want to take a drive somewhere...anywhere :)

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  14. Thanks for this post! We were at a local bookstore earlier today and saw a box set of the the Laura books. My oldest added it to her wish list. I told her about your trip and she is inspired to do something similar. Such a great adventure!

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  15. A wonderful post Sage. The pics and attending comments make me feel as if I have been there with you. That truly is a big sky!

    Thank you for sharing.

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  16. Sage, Little House on the Prairie and all the books in the series were my absolute favourite growing up and I plan to introduce these books to my daughter.

    I loved looking at the pictures and reading all about your trip. It sounds like you had a fantastic time!

    Here via Michele

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  17. Oh wow - Laura Ingalls was one of my girlhood heroes...how amazing to go to the prairie and see where they lived and worked.

    An excellent experience for your daughter (she looks adorable in her poke bonnet and pinafore, btw!) and, hopefully, one she'll treasure for a lifetime.

    Your post prompted a discussion with MB, because I always thought Spam was a British invention, but he knew it was American and I wiki'd it.

    I am so glad Michele sent me to say hello this morning, sage.

    cq

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  18. WOW sage, this was fascinating!! I've been a Laura Ingalls Wilder buff since I was a little girl and read the books! I'd love to visit the places you wrote about. I'll be adding them to my list of "Places to See".

    Also, not too long ago, I read an excellent book about the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Another fascinating, yet so very tragic, part of our history. Thank you for sharing!!!

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  19. That was a very beautiful journey. Those pictures are very good. Your description makes one want visit the places. You will make one good travelogue writer.

    And I have tagged you. Click on my name.

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  20. Wonderful post. Though the thought of Spam museum is turning my stomach

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  21. I gave my daughters your URL and wow!...did they ever thank me.

    So, Thank You!

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  22. That wagon looks like it would be tiny inside. I often wondered how Ma and Pa worked in 'marital relations' in such close confines both in the books and in the show. They must've at least once more to get Carrie.

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  23. Wouldn't it be adventurous to go back to Laura Ingalls' day...

    ...um, maybe NOT! :o)

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  24. Sounds like a great trip, Sage. Thanks for the wagon picture. Now I have some idea of what I'm riding in when I'm playing Oregon Trail.

    It was very cool that you got to meet the only person still living who went to school with Laura.

    And I don't mind Spam. I don't know what it is, but I don't mind it.

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  25. Wow! This was great!

    Though... I think they spoiled you a bit with the accomodations :)

    I've been to Austin, MN many a times... and can never make myself go in the museum :) I had a friend in high school who would literally wear his Spam shirt one day, wash it the next, then wear it again. I have to say... if it's prepared right, it's not that bad. And I think I prefer to not know any more about it than that :)

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  26. I really enjoyed these photos and the tales of your trip with your daughter. What exactly is Spam? Do you learn that at the museum? I could only imagine the look you got when you even asked to go? I'd have thought you lost your mind...lol.

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  27. Visiting through Film Literate.... must comment even though this is an older post.... my parents took me on a similar trip many, many years ago. I was a huge L.Wilder fan growing up and this post and your pictures have made my day!

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  28. I got a heavy dose of adolescent nostalgia reading this post ... as I was an avid Little House reader in my youth. What a great experience! Thanks for sharing. Peace, JP/deb

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