Ingalls Homestead, De Smet, South Dakota

 8.22.2023

De Smet, South Dakota

Mileage: 1978

Record Heat

When we started planning this adventure we thought heading north would bring some welcome relief from the heat and humidity of Virginia.  And here we are in something just less than a convection oven with temperatures near 100 degrees with winds between 15 and 20 miles per hour.  While it has slowed us down, it certainly hasn't stopped us.

We left Painted Prairie Vineyards early as the gas in the tank went down to less than a quarter tank.  When this happens the generator automatically shuts off which happened about 3:00 AM.  In record heat this meant that it was already toasty in the RV by 7:00.  Once we filled up and the generator was running so we could run the AC units, we headed to a Walmart so we could take showers.  We  continued into South Dakota, our 11th state.

As the landscape was starting to change I thought I should include some driving pictures.

Our destination was The Ingalls Homestead which is just outside of town.  The land is the actual claim of Pa Ingalls.  With the blistering heat I decided to visit some of the sites in town which were inside.  The Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society owns and operators tours in De Smet.  I saw several today.

The tour started here at the Gift Shop.

 

The Surveyor's House, where the Ingalls lived from 1879-1880.

A replica of the Brewster School where Laura taught.

The First School of De Smet where both Laura and Carrie went to school.

A Wagon that was a barn find that is similar to what the Ingalls would have traveled in.

The final stop on the tour was the house that Pa built in town.  Laura never lived in this house as she was married before it was finished.  Pa, Ma, Mary, Carrie and Grace all lived in the house at various times in their lives.

Grace's Wedding Picture

The upstairs rooms in this house were rented out after Pa died so Ma could support herself and Mary.  They are now decorated with artifacts that are from Rose (Laura's daughter), Grace, and Carrie.

I then went back to the gift shop where the tour started and saw some of the Ingalls's possessions.

Pa's Green Book

The cemetery where most of the family is buried is just outside of town.  Carrie had moved away but asked to come back to De Smet to be buried with the family as her husband was buried with his first wife.  

As I mentioned earlier we are camping on the Ingalls Homestead Property.  We have sweeping views of the surrounding landscape including The Big Slough and Silver Lake.

Silver Lake

Closer to The RV we have prairie dogs.

If you've made it this far here is a picture of Comet chillin on the floor of the RV now that it has finally cooled down  . . . did I mention it was 100 degrees today?