Are you a Little House on the Prairie fan? I am. My family recently finished watching the original show on Prime, starring Michael Landon. It became a nightly routine we all looked forward to. Every episode has a moral. Some are sad, but others are funny. It’s so good (parental discretion advised on a few episodes). I look forward to watching the new show on Netflix, too.
Melissa Gilbert’s Take on the Little House Shows
Neither show is entirely accurate when compared to the real Ingalls family and Laura’s books. Actress Melissa Gilbert recently wrote, “Rather than getting all twisted up in what’s real and what’s dramatized, maybe just sit back and go for the ride the creative minds behind these shows want to take you on. . . . If you are like me and still crave the actual, real, one hundred percent truth, then I suggest you watch what I consider to be the definitive documentary on the subject of Laura Ingalls Wilder. That documentary is PBS’s Laura Ingalls Wilder: From the Prairie to the Page.”
Melissa, who played Laura in the original show, sums up, “The important thing is that the core tenets of Laura’s stories continue to resonate today. Those are, to be kind, to be charitable, patient, tolerant, open, curious, loving. To support those in need. To care for, nurture, and love one’s family. To respect nature and be grateful for her bountiful gifts. To love God and each other.” YES.
Little House on the Prairie Books
I’m working my way through Laura’s books. We’ve read some aloud with the boys and listened to others in the car. Narrator Cherry Jones is excellent on the audiobooks. I love Laura’s descriptions of nature. It’s relaxing to listen to while driving or walking outdoors. I also admire Pa and Ma’s relationship. They went through so much together.
To cap off our time in South Dakota this summer, we went to De Smet to see where the Ingalls family ultimately settled. Laura describes the move in her fifth book, By the Shores of Silver Lake.
We visited the Ingalls Homestead (where the Ingalls family homesteaded in 1880, camping facilities available),
the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Homes gift shop (where we bought tickets for the following sights),
the original Surveyors’ House (home for the Ingalls family during their first winter in Dakota Territory, 1879–1880),
the First School of De Smet (attended by Laura and Carrie Ingalls in Little Town on the Prairie, 1880–1881),
a replica of the Brewster School (where Laura taught in These Happy Golden Years, the weathered building at the beginning of the video below),
the final Ingalls Home of Pa, Ma, and Mary (Pa built this home in 1887. It was home to the Ingalls family for over forty years. It still stands on its original location and is filled with original items of the Ingalls family.),
and De Smet Cemetery (where Pa (Charles Ingalls), Ma (Caroline Ingalls), Mary Ingalls, Carrie Ingalls Swanzey, Grace Ingalls Dow, her husband Nathan Dow, and the infant son of Laura and Almanzo are buried). Laura, Almanzo, and their daughter Rose are buried in Mansfield, Missouri.
That evening, we caught the opening night of an outdoor production titled “Daughter of the Prairie: Laura’s Dakota Stories” by The Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant. The prairie stage is next to the Ingalls Homestead. It was fun to watch, as the sun set over the prairie—a perfect way to end the day.
The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder
I read the following quote by Laura in a museum display:
“I began to think what a wonderful childhood I had had. How I had seen the whole frontier, the woods, the Indian country of the great plains, the frontier towns, the building of railroads in wild, unsettled country, homesteading, and farmers coming in to take possession. I realized that I had seen and lived it all—all the successive phases of the frontier, first the frontiersman, then the pioneer, then the farmers, and the towns. Then I understood that in my own life I represented a whole period of American History.”
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Thanks to Laura, we can experience those things. We can feel the warmth of her parents’ love for each other and their children. We can imagine the scenery and wildlife of the woods and the Great Plains. We appreciate what we have more and see the value in community. We become aware of the people who preceded us.
Couldn’t this be true of every generation, in a way? We don’t realize it while we’re growing up, but as we age, we look back and see how much has changed. Why not write about it? Who knows, you could be the next Laura Ingalls Wilder.
