Laura Ingalls Wilder Sites in De Smet
Trip to Minot, ND Day 9 | South Dakota’s Whispering Giant | Laura Ingalls Wilder Sites in De Smet, SD | September 2022
Our last day of our Minot trip began with a nearly 3 hour drive to Aberdeen, South Dakota. We began early because we had an appointment to view the South Dakota Whispering Giant. The giant is currently being held inside a structure in the Centennial Village near the Brown County Fairgrounds. Curtis contacted the keeper of the grounds a few days prior and they agreed to let us in and let us see it. The guy and his two kids were very friendly and it sounds like they are used to collectors like us coming through to see the giant. Because the statue is inside a building, it is very well preserved for its age. We chatted with him for a while, his children played with Charlie, and he took some pictures for us, then we said goodbye and parted ways.
We continued our drive South to our main stop of the day, in the town of De Smet. Over the years we’ve happened to come upon different sites where Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family lived, and those times have almost been by accident (Almonzo Wilder’s home in upstate New York and the family dugout near Plum Creek, Minnesota). But this site is by far the most well known and was one I’ve known about for a long time and have always wanted to visit, and today it was right on our route heading back to Omaha.
When we arrived in town, we first drove South to the Ingalls Family Homestead. This is a touristy place/living history museum (complete with annual pageantry) with high admission fees, so we went just to see the marker of where the homestead once stood, and the cottonwood trees that Pa planted, then returned to town to see some of the other sites.
In De Smet, we parked in a small lot on Olivet Ave to walk around more significant buildings from the books, such as the Surveyors House where the Ingalls family first lived, and a couple little schoolhouses. There were informational signs throughout the houses sharing snippets from her books and giving the timeline of how she started in De Smet as a student, then became a teacher at one of the school houses, a wife, and a mother.
After that, we did a little driving tour around De Smet and saw the county courthouse, the house where the Ingalls family later moved to, and the gravesites of Pa (Charles), Ma (Caroline), Mary, Carrie, and Laura’s son who passed away as an infant.
Our original itinerary had room for us to camp near De Smet in one of the lake state parks, but it was only early afternoon at this point, and the next day was only a county grabbing and driving day, so we decided to push on South back home. We managed to grab several new counties before finally getting on the interstate and cruising. We made one stop for dinner in Sioux City, but otherwise pushed through to Omaha. This was a great last trip to round out all the traveling Curtis’ job has allowed him to do, and we’re thankful for all these opportunities. But now on our return, we were faced with reality: Our time in Omaha was quickly drawing to a close, and it was time to focus on all our responsibilities. More on that, coming up next!
