We left STL May 9th and headed to southwest Missouri to visit Jack’s family in Springfield (his mom, brother, sister and brother-in-law). We had a wonderful time. It’s always great spending time with family!
We ate out several times with Jack’s sister, Carol, and her husband, Delano. We even played Mexican Train Dominos. I’m proud to say the girls won two out of the three games!
The whole family took Jack’s mom out for breakfast on Mother’s Day at Village Inn. Carol’s oldest son even joined us. It was good to see our nephew. We had a great time “catching” up with everyone.
We went over to Jack’s mom’s (Lill) apartment nearly every day. When visiting with Lill, one can always count on Skip Bo being involved. It’s a fun card game (you need to purchase a special set of cards). Lill is really good at this game and so is my husband. However, I am proud to say that I finally won a few games against those two this week!
Springfield is about an hour away from Mansfield, MO. Mansfield is the final home of author Laura Ingalls Wilder and her husband, Almanzo, and daughter, Rose.
If you have been reading my blog for a while, you probably remember me going to several places on the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway last summer (see posts from August and September of 2018).
At the end of last summer, I only had three places left to visit from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life: Mansfield, MO; Independence, KS; and, DeSmet, SD.
One day I decided to drive down to Mansfield. Jack wanted to stay and spend time with his mom, so I went alone. It took about an hour to get there, but it was a beautiful day for a drive.
I had been to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum in Mansfield back in the late 1980s. My older sister had come to visit us, and we decided to take our kids there. Between us we had five children approximately between the ages of five and ten years old.
I remember our visit there but don’t remember much about the house or museum. I was probably too distracted by keeping an eye on my two boys and my sister’s kids to make sure they didn’t touch or break anything. 😂
This visit would be different for two reasons: I was by myself, and they had built and dedicated a new museum and parking lot in 2016. The house and museum are located on the actual property (called Rocky Ridge Farm, the name Laura and Almanzo gave it) that the Wilders purchased and moved to in 1894 and lived at until Laura’s death in 1957. Rocky Ridge Farm was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991.
I went in and paid my admission. They now have a short informational video you can watch. You can choose what you want to do first.
I decided to go to the farmhouse first because touring it is by tour guide only, and a tour was starting very soon. They do not allow visitors to take pictures inside the house. 😔 I did buy some postcards of the interior of the house. The pictures of the postcards aren’t very good, but at least they give you an idea of what the inside looked like.
This is the desk where Laura sat many hours working on the manuscripts for her books. She wrote all manuscripts by hand.
Visitors were not allowed upstairs in the farmhouse or the Rock House. As we walked by the stairs we could kind of see part of this room. I would have LOVED to sneak upstairs in both houses to take a look! Oh well…😞
Next, I went back to the Museum to watch the video. Then I walked around the museum. I always love to read the information cards in each display, and since my husband wasn’t with me, I could take all the time I wanted. The new museum is really nice. Here are just a few of the pics I took inside the museum (zoom in so you can read some of the information on the cards).
Then, I drove a little further down the road to The Rock House (some call it the Rock Cottage). Daughter, Rose Wilder, had the cottage built as a gift to her parents. Laura and Almanzo lived there from 1928 to 1936. This is where Laura began writing her first book, the now famous Little House on the Prairie at the age of 65. Unfortunately, I could not take pictures inside, but I did get some shots of the outside.
Here is a close up picture of the spring house. It was constructed of cement and gravel and used to keep butter and milk cool.
After leaving the farm, I stopped in Historic downtown Mansfield which is a small town with a population of a little over 1,200. It has a lovely little town square surrounded by several old buildings.
Lastly, I drove to the Mansfield cemetery where Laura, Almanzo, and Rose are buried. Their graves are outlined with some shrubs and a small chain fence.
After paying my respects, I drove back to Springfield and joined my husband and his mom for some dinner. There’s more to tell about our Springfield visit, but I’ll save it for the next installment: Springfield Missouri: Part 2.
So, for now ….. “On the Road, Again!”
Betty