Laura Ingalls Wilder Home

3060 Highway A, Mansfield, MO 65704

The home where Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her beloved books

Laura Ingalls Wilder (February 7, 1867 – February 10, 1957) lived during a truly awesome time. Laura Elizabeth Ingalls was born to Charles Phillip and Caroline Lake (née Quiner) Ingalls on February 7, 1867. At the time of Ingalls’ birth, the family lived seven miles north of the village of Pepin, Wisconsin. (Wikipedia) As a little girl she traveled to Indian territory in Kansas by covered wagon and in her older years she traveled by airplane across the country. She saw the most amazing inventions including electricity, the telephone, cars, airplanes and witnessed amazing events unfold in her lifetime. I wonder what she would think of the world now.

Laura knew she had a unique life story to tell and she was a naturally skilled writer. With the help of her daughter Rose Wilder Lane, Laura’s first book, Little House in the Big Woods, was published in 1932.

Laura and Almanzo Wilder lived in DeSmitt South Dakota and spent a brief time in Florida, where Laura and Almanzo did not feel at home. In 1894 they had friends that had settled in the Missouri Ozarks and loved it. They decided to settle in the Ozarks in Mansfield, Mo. They put down $100 for a downpayment on property outside of town. Laura and Almanzo named their homestead Rocky Ridge. While they were acquiring land and improving upon the homestead they lived in the town of Mansfield. The farm grew to 200 acres and it was a successful dairy, poultry and fruit farm with a 10 room house. The farmhouse had running water that Almanzo himself piped in from the mountains.

The Ozarks was the home Laura and Almanzo would live out the rest of their lives. Laura wrote all of her books at Rocky Ridge. Her first book, Little House in the Big Woods, was written on five-cent tablets while they lived in the Rock House their daughter Rose had built for them. It is this house that Laura wrote Little House in the Big Woods, Farmer Boy, Little House on the Prairie and On the Banks of Plum Creek.

Check out the houses and museum at 3060 Highway A, Mansfield, MO 65704

There is no photography of any kind in the museum or in the farm house and Rock House.

There is plenty of parking at the museum.

Admission to the museum and houses tour:

Children 5 and Under: FREE
Children 6 to 17: $7.00
Adults 18 & Over: $15.00

All photos by abandonedexplorers.com ©

Source information Laura Ingalls Wilder Home

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