Prairie Adventure: The Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society in DeSmet, South Dakota

DeSmet. South Dakota.

In regular life, DeSmet is this one street, not much to talk about kind of town.

In Laura Ingalls terms, DeSmet is a big deal. Like a mecca.

I don’t even know where to start or how to wade through the two hundred and fifty four pictures I took while we were there.

Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote nine books. Five of the novels take place in or around DeSmet, South Dakota.

See? A big deal to Laura fans.

In DeSmet, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society offers guided tours of the four buildings they manage.

I guess that’s a good place to start.

And you guys, of the buildings they manage – only one is a replica.

Charles Ingalls is a real pioneer to the town of DeSmet and I just love how this little prairie town takes Pa as seriously as his own family took him.

Pa and Ma were the very first family to settle in the town of DeSmet, Pa staking his claim in the early spring, having spent a winter staying in the surveyor’s house on the shores of Silver Lake.

(By the way, I was hoping for a dramatic Silver Lake, but the lake was mostly drained years ago and what remains is a swampy patchy mess of water and prairie grass.)

But the surveyor’s house.

Oh man. The surveyor’s house.

There it was.

On a little unassuming street. Right there. Laura’s giant to her winter home after leaving Plum Creek.

I’m so sorry to say – no photography is allowed inside the home.

And the home – the lovely little house is as charming still today as it was to Ma and Laura when they first moved in and discovered its treasures.

Inside was an organ – not Mary’s gifted organ but a DeSmet church organ frequently played by both Mary and Ma. (I ran my fingers across the worn out foot pedals pressed and played by Ingalls women’s feet.) The pantry Laura discovered loaded with provisions was right there. We stood in the extra room where Ma accepted paying boarders during the winter to help pay for the claim shanty.

And upstairs. Oh – upstairs. You guys. Upstairs stood a gorgeous simple piece of finely crafted furniture. A dresser. Mary’s dresser. Made by Pa.

I wanted to lay down large sums of money, hold that dresser in my lap for the next seven hundred miles, and let that beauty live at my house forever.

After the surveyor’s house there was the only replica – a copy of the sad little Brewster School that Laura had to endure as her first teaching experience.

And then – then there was the DeSmet School.

The school where Eliza Jane Wilder was the teacher. The school where Laura got in trouble for holding the slate that said “Lazy lousy Liza Jane”. The school where Laura exchanged name cards with her friends. The school where Laura defended her little sister Carrie in a rage and was forced to rock the desk so hard that the bolts popped out of the floor and both girls were sent home from school.

The school had been purchased years ago and turned into a residence. The society purchased the school again a few years ago and took down the interior walls the home owner had built. While reconstructing the interior to look like its original school house self the wall paper was stripped to discover that the second owners had left all of the chalkboard that ran the length of the school room underneath the new wall paper.

The excess was carefully removed and even writings and drawings originally on the chalkboard had simply been covered over and were still in place.

It’s just incredible to think of that same old chalkboard being used by Laura and her classmates.

Another fabulous detail in all of the DeSmet museums is their purist attitudes towards the books themselves. Everywhere you look you will find original quotes from the Little House novels linking what you are seeing to what Laura was writing. It just gives the whole experience the vitality of authenticity.

Otto kept finding his name everywhere. I think he was surprised when we reminded him again that he is, in fact, named after this Wilder family.

The last stop on this tour of original homes and buildings was the best.

The best, I tell you.

Look at this.

Pa always intended to build Ma a bigger house.

Eventually the family left the claim shanty on the homestead and moved right into the town of DeSmet.

This house. This very house. This is the house that Pa built.

Just right there. Downtown DeSmet, South Dakota.

All the same except the roof was replaced a few years back.

Pa’s house. The house he grew old in. The house where he passed away with his daughters by his side. The house Ma and Mary continued to live in. The house where Ma passed away.

We stood in that house. Walked through it. Touched what I was allowed.

Again – we were not allowed to take pictures inside.

But, man, I wish I could have.

Beadwork – intricate tiny beadwork – crafted by Mary herself was on display. Newspapers lining the wall for insulation. Newspapers with a letter to the editor written by Eliza Jane. Brooches and pins belonging to the Ingalls sisters. An incredible and lovely built in kitchen cabinet full of shelves and small drawers handcrafted by Pa’s capable hands and given as a gift to Ma graced the simple, bright kitchen.

A telephone purchased by Grace for Ma hung on the wall.

And on a shelf, behind glass so my wandering hands could not reach it, sat Pa’s green book. His beloved green book. (Kevin couldn’t help himself. It’s an out of print book. He saw it for sale at one of the gift shops and now our family owns our very own copy of Pa’s big green book. I can’t wait to sit done and study it more at home.)

You see what I mean about DeSmet? It’s all kinds of important in the Little House world.

And this is just the beginning.