On the Homestead

You might think that visiting an old homestead could be done in just a few minutes and, technically, it can. The site of the Ingalls shanty is marked by a stone and the five cottonwood trees planted in 1880 stand majestically nearby. Even those few minutes are worth it.

But there is so much more to do in De Smet (which seems to be pronounced Dee Smit). As we planned our trip with our friends the Kindseths, we centered on three events and locations - the homestead, the historic buildings in downtown De Smet and the pageant, in its 40th year. Blending all three together, we experienced most of what the city has to offer on its favorite historic resident.

The homestead was amazing and by far my favorite experience. Open to the public for touring and camping, the site is breathtakingly beautiful with lightly rolling landscape, fields and prairie grass and a speckling of replica pioneer buildings.

There's also something about sleeping on the same grounds that Laura and her family lived. For one thing, we all gained additional respect for all pioneers. The weather is brutal. The winds whisked food and dishes from our picnic table, stole at least one hat and required six people to pitch the same tent I pitched on my own a few weeks before. Sure, the "breeze" kept the bugs away, but it also made it more difficult to be patient with the kids as our tempers were tested.

And the heat. Oh, the heat. It was only 95 our first day, a full 10 degrees cooler than the heat index the weekend before, when we originally planned to travel. But 95 was enough to still steal our energy, as well as some of the joy of cooking on a campfire. When we imagined dressing in full pioneer garb and not having a cool vehicle or DQ to run to for relief, it was almost unbearable. I don't know how they did it.

Yet even with the weather challenges, the homestead experience was as much fun as it was educational. We tented for the first time (backyard not withstanding), cooking on a stove and fire. While we prepped, all five kids ran across the prairie and through a wheat field. They chased gophers, played tag, giggled in the tents and danced in the winds. They flung off their shoes, letting their toes dig into the grass just as Laura, Mary, Carrie and Grace did so many years ago.

The next day, we had intended to leave by noon, but spent several more hours exploring the homestead. There was simply too many activities that all of us wanted to take in. We walked through a straw-roofed barn with a calf, cat and chickens. We crammed ourselves in a shanty and a dug out, wondering how they lived in such small homes. The kids pumped water from a well, ran past an heirloom vegetable garden, washed clothes in a basin with homemade soap, tested out straw mattresses and practiced using a butter churn in a replica of the Ingalls home.

They also rode ponies, made rope, created their own Laura corncob dolls and ground wheat with a coffee grinder. We all rode a covered wagon across the prairie to a school house, the kids all taking turns driving the team of Percheron, fittingly named Sam and David. We attended school, rang the bell, answered more trivia questions.

Each moment gave us pause to talk about what we'd be reading in the books. Girls, remember how Ma had a schedule for chores to do each day of the week? Remember how excited they all were when Pa added two tiny bedrooms to the house? Can you imagine how much work it was to plow the fields with a team of horses?

I'm so thankful for our time on the homestead. We'll bring those memories home with us to connect even more to the books we read.