Little House - DeSmet, South Dakota

A 131 years after Laura Ingalls, we finally arrived in the small town of DeSmet, South Dakota. We made camp for the night at Lake Thompson State Rec Area in nearby Preston, SD. Lake Thompson is a fairly large man-made lake that was not there in Laura's time, we found it to be pretty windy but a good place for a stop on the way through. Laura arrived in DeSmet in 1879 via covered wagon, eventually writing the Little House on the Prairie books. Many of the places mentioned in the books are located here including Silver Lake and the Big Slough. We toured the original Surveyors' House where they stayed one winter and a later house in town that Pa built that are cared for by the local historical society. We also visited the Ingalls Homestead a hands-on living recreation that features Ma's Little House, a dugout, a schoolhouse and other buildings and experiences from the time. This is a great stop for kids as they can really get a sense of being there with lots of details right from the books.