Walnut Grove, MN

 8.21.2023

Currie, MN

Mileage: 1844

As I alluded to yesterday getting down the Crichton's hill was no small feat.  Thankfully, they had several boards that we used to keep our sewer just off the ground.  I was busy leap frogging boards to get the RV onto the road so I didn't take any pictures.  Kenny moved the RV inch by inch so that we could move boards to make the incline of the hill just gentle enough to make it.  At the end of it Ellen, Rick, and I had all broken a sweat; traffic in both directions had stopped; and Kenny taught Comet some new vocabulary.  All's well that ends well, and we will count that as a lesson learned.  We will stay on much more level ground going forward.  Many, many thanks to the Crichton's for having us and their major help getting us out of the driveway!

I then took off for Walnut Grove.  For the Laura fans out there this is where the TV show was set, but not shot.  The Ingalls lived here on two separate occasions both before and after their time in Burr Oak, IA.  As I went into town I stopped at a sod house and took a couple of pictures.  While this wasn't specifically and Ingalls stop it does demonstrate kinda what the house on the Banks of Plum Creek looked like. 

 

The museum in Walnut Grove could use a little love.  All three previous stops had folks who knew Laura's story well and who did a great job of sharing the significance of their place.  In Walnut Grove there was a young woman manning the gift store who took my $10 and gave me a map.  There were several buildings as the site is at an old railroad depot.  The first building is really what I was interested in.  Laura's story was told in 1/2 of the depot building with many pictures and references to her books.  The other half of the building was dedicated to the TV shop and memorabilia from it.

 

 

After that there were several small buildings to tour:

Grandma's house which held implements that would be found in homes of the day.

A sample of the inside of the Ingall's sod house.

A one room school house.

A building that was dedicated to explaining the homesteading laws and process, which was interesting.

And a building that displayed different businesses that would have been in a town at the time.  

It was very much set-up for school groups.

Using my trusty map I then drove around Walnut Grove seeing various sites.

The Steadman's Store where Pa worked.

The lot where Laura and Mary's school stood (there is a house there now).

And the church where the bell that Pa contributed to is now housed.

The house that was on the banks of Plum Creek was about 1 1/2 miles out of town.  It was rediscovered in the 1950's when Garth Williams was doing research to illustrate the series.  It sits on a farm with a pay box and some well placed signs.

The family that owns the farm does a good job of maintaining the site, placing signs, and references to the book.  I enjoyed this much more than the museum as it is fun to see the real things that are referenced in the books.

Our Harvest Host for the night was Painted Prairie Vineyards.  It is only accessible by dirt roads, but is a gorgeous place that sits on a lake.  We enjoyed talking to the owner, Krista, and learning about her history and the history of the property.  She and her family live on the property but were not close to where we were parked.  Our dinner was yummy.  We both enjoyed our beer and wine.  Once the dinner crowd left we could only hear the wind across the prairie.

After dinner we walked the property.  Comet enjoyed laying in the grass in the vineyard.