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Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Ozarks
A new streaming series based on the author’s classic books premieres soon. See the farmhouse where she lived and wrote
Like me, you probably know Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name in one of two ways. You got to know her through the Little House books, the series of eight novels that chronicled her childhood on the American frontier, which have sold have sold millions of copies. Or you learned about Laura, Pa and Ma Ingalls, her sisters, the villainous Nellie Oleson and her love interest, Almanzo Wilder, in the NBC television adaptation that first aired in the 1970s.
Now Netflix is launching a new Little House on the Prairie series July 9. All eight Season 1 episodes will be released that day, and the show has already been renewed for a second season.
Wilder the writer started out not as a children’s novelist but as a journalist producing lifestyle pieces for local newspapers, a regional farm journal and eventually for high-end periodicals like Country Gentleman and McCall’s. She wrote about the farm, about her garden and about her kitchen describing sustainable agricultural practices that have a 21st-century ring to them.
Now Netflix is launching a new Little House on the Prairie series July 9. All eight Season 1 episodes will be released that day, and the show has already been renewed for a second season.
Wilder the writer started out not as a children’s novelist but as a journalist producing lifestyle pieces for local newspapers, a regional farm journal and eventually for high-end periodicals like Country Gentleman and McCall’s. She wrote about the farm, about her garden and about her kitchen describing sustainable agricultural practices that have a 21st-century ring to them.
Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo J. Wilder, circa 1885
It would take almost a decade for their newly planted, thousand-tree apple orchard to begin to bear. Meanwhile, her chickens were a welcome source of cash income — or credit at the grocers. A bit later, her Leghorn hens also laid a golden egg, in that they launched Laura Ingalls Wilder’s writing career.
Invited to speak about her poultry at a local agricultural meeting in 1910 but kept home by illness, Wilder sent her speech to be read aloud in absentia. It attracted the attention of the editor of the Missouri Ruralist, a twice-monthly publication from Kansas City. The following year, 1911, her first article appeared there, titled “Favors the Small Farm Home.” In it, she developed one of her persistent themes: the feasibility of the self-sustaining farm, foreshadowing the work of American agricultural writers like Wendell Berry.
It would take almost a decade for their newly planted, thousand-tree apple orchard to begin to bear. Meanwhile, her chickens were a welcome source of cash income — or credit at the grocers. A bit later, her Leghorn hens also laid a golden egg, in that they launched Laura Ingalls Wilder’s writing career.
Invited to speak about her poultry at a local agricultural meeting in 1910 but kept home by illness, Wilder sent her speech to be read aloud in absentia. It attracted the attention of the editor of the Missouri Ruralist, a twice-monthly publication from Kansas City. The following year, 1911, her first article appeared there, titled “Favors the Small Farm Home.” In it, she developed one of her persistent themes: the feasibility of the self-sustaining farm, foreshadowing the work of American agricultural writers like Wendell Berry.
The Wilder farmhouse’s kitchen, with its pass-through to the dining room, circa 1925
As the farm prospered, they acquired more land, adding 60-plus acres to the original 40. They bought and bred livestock — hogs, Durham cattle and Morgan horses. Crowning their agricultural success, they designed a 12-room farmhouse. With the help of a local builder, they completed the work sometime in late 1913 or early 1914.
As the farm prospered, they acquired more land, adding 60-plus acres to the original 40. They bought and bred livestock — hogs, Durham cattle and Morgan horses. Crowning their agricultural success, they designed a 12-room farmhouse. With the help of a local builder, they completed the work sometime in late 1913 or early 1914.
Laura Ingalls Wilder (left) with her daughter, Rose, standing next to the creek in the woody ravine below the farmhouse at Rocky Ridge, circa 1900
Laura and Almanzo sited the house not far from the ravine in the lee of the ridge, in a grove of oaks they thinned and carefully selected for the purpose. The oak trees with their ample girth and shady circumference formed an entry to the house, as well as a living awning.
Oaks from the farm’s woodlot — cut, seasoned and hand-planed — also furnished the lumber for the construction, beams and joists as well as the finish work. The paneling in the parlor, the beams in the ceiling, the floorboards, mantel, bookshelves, window seats and staircase share the warm, honeyed surface of polished oak, as if they are talking to their brethren still growing outside.
Laura and Almanzo sited the house not far from the ravine in the lee of the ridge, in a grove of oaks they thinned and carefully selected for the purpose. The oak trees with their ample girth and shady circumference formed an entry to the house, as well as a living awning.
Oaks from the farm’s woodlot — cut, seasoned and hand-planed — also furnished the lumber for the construction, beams and joists as well as the finish work. The paneling in the parlor, the beams in the ceiling, the floorboards, mantel, bookshelves, window seats and staircase share the warm, honeyed surface of polished oak, as if they are talking to their brethren still growing outside.
The hearth in the farmhouse, circa 1920
Of her parents, their adult daughter, Rose, once wrote, “My mother loves courage and beauty and books; my father loves nature, birds and trees and curious stones, and both of them love the land, the stubborn, grudging beautiful earth that wears out human lives year by year.”
The farmhouse’s fireplace is a testament to the accuracy of Rose’s observations. Its chimney is full of fossils collected on the farm, stones that captured ancient, unspoken lives. The surround is made of great stone slabs that Laura found on the property and, after some persuading, Almanzo and the builders hefted into place.
Of her parents, their adult daughter, Rose, once wrote, “My mother loves courage and beauty and books; my father loves nature, birds and trees and curious stones, and both of them love the land, the stubborn, grudging beautiful earth that wears out human lives year by year.”
The farmhouse’s fireplace is a testament to the accuracy of Rose’s observations. Its chimney is full of fossils collected on the farm, stones that captured ancient, unspoken lives. The surround is made of great stone slabs that Laura found on the property and, after some persuading, Almanzo and the builders hefted into place.
Laura Ingalls Wilder picking peas in her garden at Rocky Ridge Farm, circa 1940
The farmhouse was a part of the landscape. It seemed to emerge fully clothed from the hillside. Laura didn’t curtain its windows, so she could see the changing pictures of the world outside. Depending on the time of day, the season of the year and the weather, the scenes framed in the glass panes shifted, but were a constant draw.
She appreciated “the forest trees in the wood lot, the little brook that wanders through the pasture, the hills and valleys, and the level fields of the farm lands,” as Wilder wrote in “As a Farm Woman Thinks,” an article she wrote for the Missouri Ruralist in 1923. Living close to nature was a fundamental thing. Along with love and duty, work and rest, nature was a key ingredient in her formula for a happy life.
Of her beloved Rocky Ridge Farm, Wilder once wrote, “We have a whole 5 acres for our back yard and all out doors for our conservatory, filled not only with beautiful flowers, but with grand old trees as well, with running water and beautiful birds, with sunshine and fresh air, and all wild, free, beautiful things.” If you read or reread Wilder’s work — her farm journalism, the novels that she began to write and publish in her sixties or the autobiography that wasn’t published until 2014 — you will discover richness in her depictions of the natural world.
The farmhouse was a part of the landscape. It seemed to emerge fully clothed from the hillside. Laura didn’t curtain its windows, so she could see the changing pictures of the world outside. Depending on the time of day, the season of the year and the weather, the scenes framed in the glass panes shifted, but were a constant draw.
She appreciated “the forest trees in the wood lot, the little brook that wanders through the pasture, the hills and valleys, and the level fields of the farm lands,” as Wilder wrote in “As a Farm Woman Thinks,” an article she wrote for the Missouri Ruralist in 1923. Living close to nature was a fundamental thing. Along with love and duty, work and rest, nature was a key ingredient in her formula for a happy life.
Of her beloved Rocky Ridge Farm, Wilder once wrote, “We have a whole 5 acres for our back yard and all out doors for our conservatory, filled not only with beautiful flowers, but with grand old trees as well, with running water and beautiful birds, with sunshine and fresh air, and all wild, free, beautiful things.” If you read or reread Wilder’s work — her farm journalism, the novels that she began to write and publish in her sixties or the autobiography that wasn’t published until 2014 — you will discover richness in her depictions of the natural world.
The farmhouse at Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri, today
If you visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri, you will see the kitchen where she cooked and put up jam, fried chicken and baked gingerbread and apple pie. You will see the desk where she worked. You will stand in the oak parlor and can look through the windows with views of the land she loved and gardened.
Visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum: 3060 Highway A, Mansfield, Missouri. Open from March 1 to Nov. 15, Monday through Sunday. Admission is free for children 5 and under, $8 for ages 6 to 17 and $18 for adults 18 and over. More info
If you visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri, you will see the kitchen where she cooked and put up jam, fried chicken and baked gingerbread and apple pie. You will see the desk where she worked. You will stand in the oak parlor and can look through the windows with views of the land she loved and gardened.
Visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum: 3060 Highway A, Mansfield, Missouri. Open from March 1 to Nov. 15, Monday through Sunday. Admission is free for children 5 and under, $8 for ages 6 to 17 and $18 for adults 18 and over. More info
Volunteers plant native wildflowers in front of the new museum building in Mansfield, Missouri, before its opening in 2016
Marta McDowell lives, gardens and writes in Chatham, New Jersey. She writes and lectures on gardening topics and teaches at the New York Botanical Garden. She also consults for private clients and public gardens. Her particular interest is in authors and their gardens, the connection between the pen and the trowel. She is the author of The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder, All the Presidents’ Gardens, Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life, and Emily Dickinson’s Gardens.
The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Marta McDowell (Timber Press, 2017); more info
McDowell published The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Frontier Landscapes that Inspired the Little House Books in 2017. The book includes a list of over 200 plants that Laura Ingalls Wilder knew and grew plus more details about the places that sparked Wilder’s interests in gardening, sustainable farming and natural history.
More on Houzz
Read more stories about historic homes
Find an architect with a specialty in historic building conservation
McDowell published The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Frontier Landscapes that Inspired the Little House Books in 2017. The book includes a list of over 200 plants that Laura Ingalls Wilder knew and grew plus more details about the places that sparked Wilder’s interests in gardening, sustainable farming and natural history.
More on Houzz
Read more stories about historic homes
Find an architect with a specialty in historic building conservation
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House at a Glance
Who lived here: Almanzo and Laura Ingalls Wilder built this home on their property, Rocky Ridge Farm.
Location: Mansfield, Missouri
Year completed: 1913, with some remodeling and improvements in the late 1920s
That’s interesting: Laura Ingalls was born in western Wisconsin in 1867, in a log cabin sheltered by two mature oak trees. She and her husband built their Missouri farmhouse on a hill in a clearing of oaks. Laura Ingalls Wilder died in that house in 1957. She had just celebrated her 90th birthday.
In 1894, Wilder and her husband, Almanzo, had left De Smet, South Dakota, that “Little Town on the Prairie” that she would later make famous. Along with their 7-year-old daughter, Rose, they headed to the Missouri Ozarks, the “Land of the Big Red Apple” as promoters called it. She and Almanzo drove their horse-drawn covered wagon the 650 dusty miles through Nebraska and Kansas, the wagon bed loaded with their earthly possessions. A portable coop filled with squawking chickens hung off the back.
When the Wilders arrived in Mansfield, Missouri, they bought a 40-acre farm using their entire savings — $100 — as down payment. They were starting over. The plan was to grow apples and grain for market as well as to raise food for their table. Laura was 27 years old, Almanzo 37.