Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead Tour
Having visited each of the Laura Ingalls Wilder homes and home environments, we share our experiences of each place on the route here:
- Pepin, Wisconsin
- Independence, Kansas
- Walnut Grove and Spring Valley, Minnesota
- Burr Oak, Iowa
- De Smet, South Dakota
- Mansfield, Missouri
In addition to the homesteads of Laura Ingalls Wilder, we recommend a stop at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa, which is a great halfway point, to see its ongoing Wilder family exhibits.
Far removed from prairie life, travelers to the South can visit a Laura Ingalls Wilder stop in the Florida panhandle called the “Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead Park,” which is on the site where the author and her husband lived briefly (1891-1892). The park features a marker and is near the historic church of the era but the house is no longer there. We recommend adding it to the Alabama Author Adventures Trail rather than the Florida Author Adventure Trail, as it is closer to the Alabama border. Read about it here: Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead Park.
For even more details about the author’s life, read an article about lesser known parts of her history here: latimes.com/books. An insightful depiction of her life in connection with her daughter, a book editor who encouraged her mother to write, can be seen here: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters.
The Wagon Tour map is below:
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