Ingalls Homestead, Laura's Living Prairie--De Smet South Dakota - History Museums on Waymarking.com

This museum is located at the outskirts of the very small town of De Smet, South Dakota, about an hour drive west from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It is a walking tour, and you are supplied with a map. However, for those who have trouble walking long distances, they have golf carts available at no charge for use. (which I greatly appreciated since I would never have made it past the gift shop in the main house.)
There is one building that has the Conestoga wagon used by the Ingalls family to drive across the prairies. Inside this room also, are many of the items about Laura ingalls and her life as an author of the Little House book series. Their original log cabin was rebuilt here so people can tour through it to see what pioneer life was back in the late 1800's. Each of the volunteer guides are dressed in era appropriate clothes and tell you about each place you visit. There is a large barn where you can tour and take a covered wagon ride across the prairies for about a mile trip to the one room schoolhouse. You sit at the desks and listen to the teacher, as she tells what school was like in the 1870's and 80's, and how children would bring lunches of lard sandwiches. If there are any children in the group, she has them dress in bonnets and pinafores, for girls, or farm hats for boys. She then teaches them a song to sing for all the other "students" in class. It was wonderful fun, especially to see the kids enjoy it so much.
Marian Cramer is a teacher and historian who spends her summer months being the school teacher at Ingalls Homestead. She has published two books, and is the author of two Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant scripts.
After getting back on the wagon, you are returned back to the barn, but on the way back,you can watch a famer plow his field to get ready to plant corn with original equipment using a pair of percheron horses and plow and planter. After returning to the barn, you can go over to the other barn where there are several activities going on. You can make rope, shell corn, make a corn cob doll, and see how wheat and corn were ground using an original, antique coffee grinder.
There is a dugout house built to represent the Ingalls first home, and a barn with a sod thatched roof. At the barn, there is an original working water pump you can experience to see how hard it was to get water.
All in all, it is a great chance to experience what a pioneer family faced in those challenging years. If you are a Little House on the Prairie fan, this is a must see. Even if you aren't, but are interested in pioneer history, you will have a wonderful adventure here. Depending on how much you want to see, the visit can be a couple hours or half a day.
Though there are no snack bars or concessions, there are many picnic tables on the porch of the main house where you can bring a lunch and enjoy the prairie.

Theme: Laura Ingalls Wilder's life, her family, how they lived, worked, and played, where she got inspiration for her "Little House" book series. Street Address: 20812 Homestead Road De Smet, South Dakota 57231 Phone: 800-776-3594 Food Court: no Gift Shop: yes Hours of Operation: Summer 9 AM - 7 PM Daily, Activities 9 AM - 6 PM Fall and Spring Limited Hours, 9 AM - 5 PM Daily. Call for Spring and Autumn hours subject to weather Closed winters Open Daily Memorial Day Weekend-- to Labor Day Weekend Cost: 7.00 (listed in local currency) Museum Size: Small Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/16/2021 Sneakin Deacon visited it