Special Places To Visit: De Smet South Dakota

  This should be labeled Laura Ingalls Wilder adventure II.  After having seen Walnut Grove Minnesota, Cathy and I decided it would be interesting to see another homestead of the Wilder's.  So we stayed off the beaten path, AKA Interstate, and took the rural highways to De Smet South Dakota.  South of De Smet and Highway 14 you will find the Big Slough lake and the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead.  The homestead is very nice and well kept up.  The whole area has been recreated to go along with the books that she wrote.  From their web site: 

• Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books capture the founding of De Smet and her family was De Smet’s first residents.  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.  She carried these memories throughout her life.

   The whole area has many interesting buildings and museum items.  From their web site:

• The Memorial Society preserves and presents the largest collection of Ingalls family memorabilia, with over 2000 original artifacts.

 Cathy and I walked around the area for several hours.  The buildings are mostly recreations and try to adhere to what was in the books.  It seems that fire was a real hazard and fire took many of the original buildings over the years.  The one room school house is a real one room school house, but the original one that Laura taught in was destroyed by a prairie fire.  The one we visited was bought over from a local community and very similar to the original one that burned down.  If you are traveling with children there are many things for them to do and to explore.  I particularly liked the museum areas and enjoyed reading the literature on life during that time.  As I have said in a previous post, Charles Ingalls was a hard worker.  You had to be to survive during that time, as South Dakota's winters were sometimes just as harsh as Minnesota's.  From their web site:

• Experience our pioneer heritage on the quarter-section of land Charles Ingalls earned through the Homestead Act.  Drive a covered wagon, attend a one-room schoolhouse, twist hay, grind wheat, make rope, wash clothes, experience the homesteading history that shaped our nation.  Lured by the prospect of free land from the Homestead Act of 1862, the Ingalls family, just like thousands of other pioneers flocked to the Midwest to take Uncle Sam up on his bet - that they could turn 160 acres of prairie into a family farm.  Today native prairie grasses cover over one hundred acres, period buildings house exhibits that share homestead life, and hands-on activities allow families to understand the changes in our agricultural heritage. Our friendly staff invites you to spend an old-fashioned family day at Ingalls Homestead. 

   After having a great time at the homestead site Cathy and I decided to head to the De Smet Cemetery.  From the web site:

• The De Smet Cemetery is located southwest of De Smet on a beautiful hilltop with many trees overlooking the city as well as a view of the site of the Charles “Pa” Ingalls homestead and the “big slough” to the east. Each year hundreds of visitors view the grave sites of several of the Ingalls family, including Charles, Caroline, Mary, Carrie, Grace and infant son of Laura and Almanzo Wilder. Familiar names from the Little House of the Prairie television series and from Laura’s books are also found on many of the gravestones. 

  It was strange to see the names of individuals that you watched on TV on graves.  I have seen several graves of famous people on my trips west and I am sure I will be highlighting a few of them in my blog.
  I would highly recommend visiting De Smet and spending a few hours or a day there and explore the history of those that decided to establish a home in areas that sometimes were very trying.