Master's Hotel, Burr Oak, IA

8.19,2023

Old Barn Resort, Preston, Minnesota

Mileage: 1467 (same as yesterday)

While Kenny was with me we drove to Burr Oak, IA to the Master's Hotel, another Laura Ingalls Wilder site.  Our rule for adding a state to our map in the RV is that the RV must spend a night in a state and we must do something.  Thus, Iowa won't be added to the map, but it will count for our state count for this trip.  Iowa is state 10.

The visitor center for this stop is in an old bank in town.  Town is a bit of an overstatement here.  There are a few houses, a bar, a general store, and a couple of buildings for the LIW site.  

The Ingalls ended up in Burr Oak, Iowa working at this hotel after two years of crops failed and they lost everything in Walnut Grove, MN.  Friends of theirs, the Steadmans, owned the hotel and suggested that they come to this small hamlet to run it.  While the town was small the hotel is on a busy road.

Mrs. Steadman was ill meaning that Ma ended up cooking and cleaning for between 20 and 25 people three meals a day.  Pa soon decided that they weren't being fairly compensated for the work they were doing, and they moved into a general store that stood next door and worked there instead. 

All 5 Ingalls slept in this room while they were at the Master's Hotel.

Kenny found these dust blockers interesting.  They were put in the corners of stairs to keep dust from collecting there.

Bell from the church in town.

The Ingalls' only son died on the way to Burr Oak.  Laura's youngest sister Grace was born here.  They were in Burr Oak for less than a year.  This part of their journey was not included in the Little House series as Laura thought it would add two many new characters and be confusing to readers.  Historians also think it was omitted because it was such an unhappy time in their lives.

I have now visited 3 of the 5 northern visitors centers.  We take a brief break from LIW to visit friends in Minneapolis before continuing her journey later this week.

And . . . if you've made it this far . . . Here's Comet!