Laura Ingalls Wilder’s birthplace in Pepin, WI is only a couple of hours away from the Twin Cities. Yesterday afternoon was beautiful enough for a last short road trip. Mister Husband suggested heading over there, and so off we went.

There’s nothing original left on the site, and it’s certainly not in the woods anymore. The new Little House has a cinder block foundation and swallows in the rafters. It’s still a nice drive, though, and it’s interesting to see the lay of the land. It’s still pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The site closes when the snow starts and opens after the spring melt, and I can see why. The roads would easily be nearly impassable in the winters. If Pepin’s location is even remotely the same as it was in the 1860s, Pa’s trips to town would have been up and over pretty significant hills. Between seeing that and reading a couple of the books again earlier this year, I’m impressed by the level of physical fitness one would have needed to survive in a basic way on the prairie.

There are still Ingallses in Pepin, as evidenced by the headstones in the town cemetery. Some have already crossed over to Jordan, and some are preparing with highly reflective headstones. You don’t even have to go looking; there’s a huge headstone visible from the road.

(More photos at Mister Husband’s flickr account. Oh, and if you’re reading this in RSS you’re probably not able to see the PictoBrowser gallery at the top of the entry. If you’d rather, you can go straight to the flickr set.)