The Ingalls Homestead and Other Points of Interest (Part Three)

After seeing all the different sites, you may wonder, “What else is there?” On the corner of the land is a small fenced-off area for the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Site where the homestead once stood. Nothing is left of it, but a plaque and five of the cottonwood trees Pa had planted around his home are there. The trees were massive—huge trunks that I couldn’t even reach around, and the branches looked like they were left to grow naturally, as they were long, some so long they nearly touched the ground.

I don’t know why, but touching those trees, something that I knew that Laura may have touched, it just brought tears to my eyes. If those trees could only talk, what tales they’d have. It was a part of history, seeing and touching and just imagining how the Ingalls family had lived. It was a beautiful spot for a home.

Across the road from the homestead spot was the Big Slough that Grace got lost in one year. We didn’t venture into it, but it didn’t look as wet as I had expected it, but maybe the water was hidden in the coarse grasses of the slough.

I could have stayed at that place for hours, even though there was nothing there to really see. It was quiet—the homestead was back from the highway that ran through the area, so hardly any traffic noise.

We decided to take a drive to the twin lakes, Henry and Thompson, that Laura also wrote about how she and Almanzo went on buggy rides near them. We drove down a road, using the map we’d gotten at the gift shop and Google maps on our phone (wouldn’t Laura get a kick out of that technology?) and came up to Lake Henry, the smaller of the two lakes.

After taking some pictures we kept driving to Lake Thompson. We got stopped where the road was flooded. South Dakota had had a lot of rain recently and some of the roads had flooded. Even though there looked to be houses on the other side of the flooded road, we didn’t dare venture across. Sadly, we turned around and went back the way we’d come.

Looking at the map we had up on my phone, we found another road to drive on to maybe get closer to the lake. Sure enough, we drove down a road and that was flooded, too, but by the lake! So I did get to see both lakes mentioned in the books.

We also decided to take a drive to the cemetery where the Ingalls family was buried. Charles, Caroline, Mary, and Carrie were buried next to each other, along with Laura’s unnamed son, and a cement path led us to where Grace and her husband were buried. I walked around a bit to see if there were any names I recognized. There was a big headstone for the Boast family, and I saw a few other names. I didn’t take any pictures, though. I always feel like it’s disrespecting the deceased to take pictures. Charles’s headstone was a granite pillar. It was beautiful, though the inscription had been worn away over the years, you could still make out some of it if you stood in just the right spot.

After visiting the cemetery, it was time to head out. We drove through the town to get to Mitchell, SD to stay for the night. It was hard leaving that area. I could have spent a couple days there, just exploring and getting the story of the area.

Next week, driving on to Keystone and Mount Rushmore.