Sui luoghi de “La casa nella prateria”: viaggio a De Smet, in South Dakota

Un itinerario sin tiempo, a lo largo del pueblo que inspiró “La pequeña casa en la pradera”, el libro de Laura Ingalls Wilder del cual se derivó la exitosa serie. La memoria auténtica del coraje y la perseverancia en South Dakota, en los Estados Unidos.

Settlement in South Dakota

Let’s jump to 1862. With the Homestead Act, the American government allowed each head of family the opportunity to claim about sixty hectares of government-owned land as long as they settled there for at least 5 years and paid the administrative fee. So much publicity was generated to create farms and homesteads on the lands of the Dakota Territory that it filled the minds of young men and women seeking adventure and fortune. The desire to own land became a dream for many. In 1880, the Dakota Central Railroad pushed the railway borders further west, touching small communities beyond Volga and Huron in eastern South Dakota, and gave rise to many small villages that sprang up like mushrooms: Arlington, Lake Preston, De Smet, Manchester, Iroquois, Cavour. Many of these settlements had a couple of shops, a boarding house, stables, and a couple of added shacks. Swarms of settlers arrived there from the eastern United States and also from Europe.

De Smet, in South Dakota

De Smet, in South Dakota, sprang up around 1880 as a classic prairie colony. It had a general store, a bank, a hotel, a saloon, the local newspaper, the church, and a carpenter’s shop. At that time, those who arrived to own land built a shack, or a claim shanty. In the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, there is talk of “a small room, barricaded from top to bottom, with a slanted roof making it look like a little house” (Wilder, 1939). If you walk today on Calumet Avenue in De Smet, you can imagine it in 1880.

The Little House on the Prairie

“The Little House on the Prairie” (Little House on the Prairie) a work from 1943-1945 by the American writer Laura Ingalls Wilder, tells about her own vicissitudes in the numerous moves in search of a better life, recounting the events she personally experienced during her childhood. Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family, like other settlers around 1880, arrived in De Smet in 1879 right at the beginning of her book By the Shores of Silver Lake – By the Shores of Silver Lake. The author, in her numerous books, captures the essence of the birth of De Smet, as she and her family were among the first residents. Here she grew up on the family farm, attended the first and only school in De Smet, had her first job on Main Street, courted her future husband Almanzo on the prairie, and built her family here.

Today De Smet prides itself on the title of Little Town on the Prairie, safeguarding the memories of Laura for over 50 years, to the delight of many enthusiasts from all over the world. Exploring the area where Laura Ingalls Wilder’s family settled, you can experience firsthand the life of the pioneers of South Dakota. This land proved precious in many ways: the school, the church, and part-time work were important to Laura’s father, Charles Ingalls.

The shack built on the homestead housed the Ingalls family. The Ingalls Homestead in the heart of the eastern South Dakota prairie is the place where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived from age 13 to 18.

What to do in De Smet, South Dakota

There are many experiences to relive firsthand in De Smet: driving a pioneer wagon, attending a lesson in the school’s only class, twisting hay, grinding wheat, making rope, washing clothes on old boards, experiencing the daily life of a settler in the history that shaped the nation.

Today the vast prairies, the original historic buildings hosting exhibitions about pioneer life and all related activities, allow you to grasp aspects of the evolution of agricultural life. You can stay at the delightful Victorian B&B Prairie House Manor, a beautiful house from 1894 mentioned in Wilder’s book The Long Winter – The Long Winter.

The advice is to start your exploration at the Hazel L. Meyer Memorial Library, with its vast collection of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s literary repertoire and over 2000 original artifacts. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society was founded shortly after the death of Laura Ingalls Wilder in 1957. A tour showcases several historic houses including the Surveyors House from the book On the Banks of Silver Lake and the last home of Ma, Pa, and Mary Ingalls.

The Loftus store opened in 1879 and is still in its original building; Wilder wrote about Mr. Loftus and the The Loftus Store in the book The Long Winter. The store remains one of two authentic 19th-century buildings on Main Street and offers souvenirs, books, clothing, and gifts as well as memorabilia such as the tin lunchbox Laura carried to school, the tin cup Christmas gift, the peppermint candy stick, and the shiny penny. The candy corner mentioned in the book still exists!

There are also beautiful illustrations by Harvey Dunn, a prolific artist and painter of the Pioneer West, native of South Dakota, who lived near De Smet at the same time as the Ingalls. He is known for his portraits of prairie girls and women, the “Prairie Pictures”. Then, there’s also the historic first congregational church organized by Charles Ingalls in 1880, with the city’s first religious service held in his home on February 29, 1880.

The De Smet cemetery is located southwest of De Smet on a hill overlooking the city and today hosts the graves of various members of the Ingalls family, including Charles, Caroline, Mary, Carrie, Grace, and the newborn son of Laura and Almanzo Wilder. In the summer, on July weekends, the outdoor theatrical show Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant brings to life the Laura Ingalls Wilder book. Worth a trip are the series of lakes surrounding: Spirit Lake and Silver Lake.

Surroundings of De Smet, South Dakota

By car, extend your exploration of the eastern prairies of South Dakota, reaching Brookings about 60 kilometers away where you can visit the South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum which worthily illustrates the agricultural heritage of the region and the South Dakota Art Museum with galleries displaying works by Native American artists as well as about 140 of the finest Dunn paintings.

Prairie Village

South of Madison another small historic gem shows rural life many years ago in South Dakota: Prairie Village with its 40 original buildings presents life 100 years ago as it was on Main Street. The Lawrence Welk Opera House, the century-old steam carousel Herschell Spillman with hand-carved wooden figures rearing to the notes of the calliope music. The country school, the churches and one of the only traveling railway carriages that carried the good news around the country thanks to the missionaries.

“Emmanuel” is listed in the South Dakota Register and the National Register of Historic Places and is the oldest Baptist chapel on rails among the three remaining in the entire United States. It traveled with the missionary and his family on board from 1893 to 1942, to preach and teach the Gospel. The thousands of settlers who had left the east of the country in 1880 to claim a piece of the Wild West were devout Christians, deprived of a place of worship. The 18 m long chapel on rails, completely made of oak wood and metal, was inaugurated in Denver, Colorado, in 1893 to serve the west and northwest of the United States until 1940, when permanent churches were built. The Village is surrounded by about 5 km of tracks of the Herman & Milwaukee Railroad. The experience in these prairie places of South Dakota reconnects you with the courage and perseverance of the people who were able to create a new life and know how to enjoy the small things.

©Thema Nuovi Mondi