Traveling to the Banks of Plum Creek
Our family trip to visit two Laura Ingalls Wilder towns. Stop one: Walnut Grove.
My family has an almost-nightly ritual: reading Laura Ingalls Wilder books together in the living room before the kids go to bed. We’re almost through Little Town on the Prairie (where 14-15 year old Laura experiences small-town Dakota life and prepares to become a school teacher.) My 7-year-old daughter is enthralled with each book. We visited Pepin, Wisconsin last summer to see the land on which Laura and Mary were born, so Memorial Day 2025, we headed to the next two destinations nearest us… Walnut Grove, MN, and De Smet, SD. Here is a little bit about our quick stop in Walnut Grove (i.e. On the Banks of Plum Creek.)…
On the Banks of Plum Creek
I’m surprised by the number of people who have told me they didn’t know the site of the former Ingalls dugout house in Walnut Grove, MN is open for visitors. It is, and it’s well worth a stop! Our stops in Walnut Grove included:
The Ingalls’ former land with the ruins of their dugout (Plum Creek was a-flowin’ during our visit. Another bonus!)
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum, featuring a replica of a pioneer dugout, lots of information about the Ingalls, and plenty of memorabilia from the 1970s TV show.
Half Pint Coffee Co., because local coffee shops are a necessity for our family trips (and this one won for the Laura Ingalls-inspired name, overall ambience, and our delicious iced mochas.)
The Ingalls Dugout
The site of Ma and Pa’s earthen home is about a mile and a half north of Walnut Grove. It is now on private property, but the owners graciously allow visitors to the site. It is well-maintained and even has picnic tables and marker signs for the various things to see. Consider a donation of $10 per car if you visit- it takes a lot of work for the family to maintain this historical treasure!
Laura wasn’t lying when she titled her book On the Banks of Plum Creek. The photo below shows just how close the family’s dugout home was to the creek. I can hardly imagine what it was like living there, far from neighbors, with only the wind and the creek making noise. Even today, this site is rural, removed, and quiet.
Ma and Pa Ingalls bought this land and the dugout in 1874 from a Scandinavian farmer. The family of five (six, when baby Charles Frederick was born in 1875) lived in the small earthen home for at least a year before Pa built a wooden house nearby. This was the site of the infamous grasshopper infestations. The Ingalls decided to cut their losses after three crop failures. After buying the land for $413 from the U.S. government in 1876, they immediately sold it to another farmer for $400.
The locations of the other former buildings on this land are unknown, including that of the wooden house Pa built and the sod barn. Since the early 2000s, 25 acres of native grasses and other plants have been planted at the site, preserving the land and providing visitors with a more authentic glimpse of what the Ingalls might have seen when they lived here in the 1870s.
The Walnut Grove Museum
Another site worth visiting in Walnut Grove is the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum. It features seven exhibit buildings, plus a great gift shop. There are many interesting exhibits for adults, and interactive ones for children. While there are not a large number of Ingalls-owned artifacts on display (there are a handful, don’t get me wrong), the museum holds a significant array of treasures from the 1970s hit show, Little House on the Prairie.
One of the museum highlights was seeing an example of a real dugout- You don’t really get a feel for how small they were until you step foot in one. Check out my Instagram Reel of the museum dugout, here.
If you find yourself in southwestern Minnesota, or you hope to visit the sites of the Little House books, make time for Walnut Grove in your itinerary. And stop by Half Pint Coffee Co… Laura would want you to.
What a fun trip to take with your kids as you're all reading the novels together. The dugout does seem a little cramped.
Love this! The little house books were so formative in my early years. If you get the chance to go to her home in Missouri, it’s well worth it!