Little Spouse On The Prairie

In southwestern Missouri, on Rocky Ridge Farm, stands the house where Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her famous books.

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We crossed paths with Laura Ingalls Wilder’s home on our trip to Joplin.

Confession here – I’ve never read the Little House books nor watched the long-running TV show. But that didn’t hinder my visit to her historic home.

In addition to being a farm housewife, Laura Ingalls Wilder was an accomplished writer even before she wrote the Little House series. She penned a popular column in local newspapers filled with tales of life on a working farm. The museum on the property had many examples of her work.

in 1895, Laura married Almanzo Wilder and they moved from the prairie settlements of South Dakota to a 40 acre farm in western Missouri. The house was hand-built by her husband, expanded over many years, and had such a warm, endearing charm that I didn’t want to leave.

Laura was a little bitty thing, standing only 4’11” and everything in the home was built to her proportions.

Her daughter, Rose, was actually the first famous author in the family. In 1928, fresh off a big publishing score, Rose built her parents a second, more modern home on the edge of the property. They called it Rock House, and Laura started writing her books here.

Rock House was a Sears & Roebuck home. You bought the plans and building materials from a catalog and had a local contractor assemble it. All this for only $2000!

Laura Ingalls Wilder began writing the Little House books in her sixties as a retirement project. They were based on her real life experiences with her family of pioneer settlers.

She achieved her fame and fortune late in life. So there’s hope for me yet!