De Smet, SD

Thursday, we drove from Gettysburg, SD to Cedar Falls, IA, and we went through De Smet, which was, of course, one of the homes of Laura Ingalls Wilder, of Little House on the Prairie fame. De Smet  has made the most of this. Two of the houses she lived in, a school she attended, and a school she taught in (at age 15!) are all part of a guided tour. It's sort of amazing how popular her books have become - the memories of her childhood have become classics, iconic representations of our pioneer history. All the more remarkable because we know that her "memories" were partly fictional. We took the "half tour " of the buildings clustered at the visitor's center.

The Surveyors' House, where the Ingalls family lived the winter of 1879-80.

The school house in De Smet which Laura attended. 

The "Brewster school " where Laura taught when she was only 15 years old. 

          An informative poster