Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum

Along with so many people, I grew up loving the Little House books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Recently, we finally went to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri where the Little House Books were all written. We've driven by the exit so many times before but never took the time to stop in.

What a treasure to behold!! There were actually two of Laura's homes there. One was the farm house and another was a gorgeous stone cottage that Laura's daughter, Rose had built for them in the early 1930's where the first five Little House books were written. The last 4 books were written after Almonzo and Laura moved back to the farm house. All of the manuscripts were written with pencil on 10 cent tablets. They have all the original manuscripts at this museum along with Pa's actual fiddle! Truly amazing!!

These photos are screen shots on my Mac which are not of great quality but at least you get the idea. I forgot my camera that trip and all I had was our flip movie camera. There were no photos allowed inside the two homes so if you want to see the amazing items like Pa's fiddle, etc. you have to go visit this wonderful museum.



9 comments:

Kelly H-Y said...

Oh my goodness, I love it. I'm going to have to tell my sister about that ... she's living in Missouri for a couple years. I'm sure she'd love to got see these!

Debbie Meyer said...

Ooh, I love the stone cottage. I remember visiting Laura Ingalls museum in Missouri when I was a kid. My sister was so crazy about all the books that she made me dress up like one of the Ingalls to play. She even had the little neighbor boy dress up like Carrie (he was 3). AND, she had our dad take the blades off her iceskates so she could have real lace up boots like Laura & Mary. I had forgotten all about that. Nice to hear it's still a wonderful place to visit and that you enjoyed yourself.

Phyllis Harris said...

There are so many cool stories that go along with these books. Sounds like they really helped to make a lot of our childhoods a lot more fun!

When I was little, my grandpa never read anything until my mom got him these books and he read the entire set. He was in his 60's! I think it enabled him to re-live his childhood right along with Laura. :o)

k.h.whitaker said...

wow, I love to see things like this, so cool, living, breathing history...

Mary Hall said...

It's great to see these photos Phyllis - especially as I'm a living a bit of a distance from Missouri, so unlikely to be able to visit! I loved all the books when growing up...

Janelle said...

How neat! Sofi's reading the first book in the series right now, so I'm sure we'll be field-tripping there in the near future. I can't wait!

Doug said...

That's interesting. I grew up in Mtn. Grove, just a few miles down the road from Mansfield. I visited the house MANY years ago...

Suzanne Del Rizzo said...

That stone house is so cute, I just love stone-work!

Phyllis I wanted to tell you about my new desk! Although I didn't end up purchasing one like yours, as it was too expensive to ship up to me in Canada, my wonderful Uncle actually custom-made one for me!!

I just posted a pic on my blog if you get a chance to check it out.!
Thanks so much again for sharing the manufacturers info with me! And it fits perfectly!!

Phyllis Harris said...

Thanks for sharing, Suzanne! You are one lucky lady! I just posted a comment on your blog. I'm glad my desk lit a spark for getting your own wonderful desk. :o)