Image above: Sign with Historic Home in the background, 2026. Courtesy America's Best History.
Spotlight on Lesser Known History
Laura Ingalls Wilder Home, Missouri
America's Best History Spotlight
On this page we're going to Spotlight the lesser known historic sites and attractions that dot the history landscape across the USA and are worth a visit if you're in their area. And while they may be lesser known, some are very unique, and will be that rare find. You'll be, at times, on the ground floor, or maybe even know something others don't. It'll be fun. Visit them.
Laura Ingalls Wilder Home, Missouri
For the last three generations, many families across the United States and world have been entertained by the series Little House on the Prairie, which recounted the Ingalls family, and especially daughter Laura, as they ventured across the midwest from home to home. Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home, yes, the home of the author, grown up Laura, was her home as an adult from 1894 until her passing. She would live in the white historic house, at first, with husband Almanzo and daughter Rose. It was a successful farm of forty acres called Rocky Ridge. It would grow in size over the year to nearly two hundred acres. Today, you can visit that historic house, walk through a wonderfully complete museum, and trundle over by foot or car to the second house of Laura called the Rock House. This is a treat for any fan of the Little House on the Prairie books or television series, now in its second incarnation.
Image above: Front view of the initial home on Rocky Ridge Farm, 2026. Courtesy America's Best History.
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Info, What's There Now, History Nearby
Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home, Missouri
One of the odd things lost over the years is that the first famous author in their family would not be Laura, but her daughter Rose Wilder Lane. After she had married and moved from the farm, her book became an even better seller than the subsequent Little on the House series of books. Mother Laura would not write her first until 1932. However, once she started, she became prolific with the series, which would total nine books.
Image above: Exhibit in museum about the first Little House on the Prairie television series, 2026. Courtesy America's Best History. Below: The writing desk, 2026. Courtesy America's Best History.
Where Is It
Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home is located at 3060 Highway A, Mansfield, Missouri 65704, which is in the southern part of Missouri.
Minute Walk in History
Laura Ingalls Wilder Home
Tour the museum, two homes, and grounds of author Laura Ingalls Wilder of Little House on the Prairie fame. This historic site, located in Mansfield, Missouri, was the location where adult Laura would write her books and live from 1894 until her death.
What is There Now
Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home, Missouri
The Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane Museum, with film, bookstore, and museum. A path leads you to the initial historic home on the hill, where you can get a guided tour daily. A garage behind this home also contains exhibits. Further along a trail is the second home of Laura on the property called the Rock House.
When Open and How Much
Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home is open from March 1 to November 15. Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday's hours are shorter, 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission fees range from $8 children 6-17 to adults $18. Children 5 and younger are free.
Fees and hours are subject to change.
Websites
Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home
Visit Missouri
History Nearby
The history nearby has ties to more than a few historic towns, battlefields, and homes, including the Civil War battlefields of Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove, the town of Springfield, home to the birthplace of Route 66, as well as George Washington Carver National Monument.
Photos, History, and More Spotlights
Visitor Center and Museum
The large Visitor Center that greets you above the parking lot contains an exhibit hall, displaying artifacts, photos, and more with docent present. Be careful she doesn't steal your man. Inside joke. There are restrooms, a film, and a book plus souvenir store, too. This is where you can start your journey through Rocky Ridge farm, the two Wilder homes, as well as a walking trail that takes you from one to the other. Some folks will want to drive; the walk is about three quarters of a mile. There is also a garage with exhibits, open through a guide.
You must have ticket to go in all the buildings.
Photo above: Visitor Center at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home, 2026. Courtesy America's Best History.
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The Rock House
When Rose Wilder Lane moved back to the Rocky Ridge farm in 1928, she had the Rock House, with more modern conveniences, built for her parents Laura and Almanzo. They lived there until 1936 when they moved back into their original home after Rose moved away again. At the encouragement of daughter Rose, Laura began writing the Little House on the Prairie books in 1932 in the Rock House. Four of the books were written there. She was sixty-five years old when she first started writing her books. However, that is not to say that Laura was not a writer before; she had been a columnist for the Missouri Ruralist since 1911.
The books were also prompted by the Stock Market collapse in 1929, which wiped out both mother and daughter's savings.
Image above: Exterior of the Rock House, the second home on the farm of Laura Ingalls Wilder and where she wrote her first four books, 2026. Courtesy America's Best History. Below: Living room of the Rock House, 2026. Courtesy America's Best History.
Little House on the Prairie Books and Series
How many Little House on the Prairie series books are there? Most people say nine, although some were published after Laura's death from her unpublished writings. In sequence, the books were Little House in the Big Woods (1932), Little House on the Prairie (1935), On the Banks of Plum Creek (1939), By the Shores of Silver Lake (1939), the Long Winter (1940), Little Town on the Prairie (1941), These Happy Golden Years (1943), and On the Way Home (1962) plus The First Four Years (1971).
The Little House on the Prairie television series would air from 1974 and chronicle their times in Walnut Grove with father Charles, mother Caroline, Laura, Mary, and Carrie Ingalls. It would run through 1983. Reruns would last for the next two generations with likely more to come, and now include a second incarnation of the series on Netflix, which began in 2026.
Images above: Exhibit on Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House on the Prairie books, 2026. Courtesy America's Best History.
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