Ingalls Homestead, De Smet, and Lake Thompson

 8.23.2023

De Smet, South Dakota

Mileage:  1978 (same as yesterday)

Ingalls Homestead, De Smet, and Lake Thompson

Early morning here was bright and sunny.  Then the fog rolled in across the prairie.  Thankfully this meant that the temperatures stayed much more moderate than forecast.  I spent the morning seeing various things around the Ingalls Homestead.  Much care has been used in recreating the buildings to Pa's specs and put in the places they were originally built.

Fog 

This dugout was created to the size that Laura described in her books.  It is small, dark, and smells.

The shanty was from another family that came to the area about the same time as the Ingalls.  While this one appealed to my senses more it probably wasn't as practical with the long, cold winters.

Display of different prairie grasses.

Pa's Barn, or at least one built as he built his.

Replica of the shanty house as it stood when it was completed, about 1867.

After visiting a more modern barn, I took a wagon ride out the the little school house.  While not a school that the Ingalls attended it was a school used from that era.  It was actually used as a school until the 1960's.  We all got to participate in a lesson during which we did some math, some spelling, and we learned a poem.  The children in the group got to ring the school bell.

We also visited a community church of the time that was moved to the Homestead.

A sample garden

After lunch, which was very convenient as we are camping at the homestead' I went into town to see a few of the remaining places I wanted to see.  I started with The Depot Museum.  It is a cute place with various items from the town's history.

This is an early drawing of the town.

Another exhibit was The Pelt Room.  It was kinda scary walking in the door with all of the animals staring at me!

The County Courthouse

The Central Street of De Smet today.

A house where Laura and Almanzo briefly lived.

I then drove out to Lake Thompson.  It was much larger than I expected.  Laura and Almanzo would visit here on their buggy rides.

If you've made it this far here is a picture of Comet sleeping in one of his favorite places.