My Dream Vacation

The kids and I are almost through reading By the Shores of Silver Lake. Next we'll read The Long Winter. We're thoroughly enjoying the Little House series. Tonight we were excited to read this quote:

"Those are the Wilder boys," [Pa] said. "Almanzo's driving, and that's his brother Royal with him. They've taken up claims north of town and they've got the finest horses in this whole country."

The kids know that Laura marries Almanzo Wilder, so they were excited when I read his name. I had forgotten that Laura first saw Almanzo as her family drove out of the town of De Smet to move onto their homestead in 1880. He was 23, she was 13.

I decided to do a little search online tonight after I put the kids to bed. I wasn't aware that you could visit the Ingalls' Homestead in De Smet, SD. So now this is my new dream vacation! You can click here to see the link. Every summer a play is performed in the evening under the stars. This year's play is The Long Winter! Click here to see the link to the play.

I also found this copy of Pa's homestead claim application filed in February of 1880,

and this receipt of purchase for $13.86, indicating that their homestead was 154.29 acres. If I remember correctly, the settlers were entitled to 160 acres of land through The Homestead Act.

Reading through these document gave me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes!