Little Museum on the Prairie
Roots + Wings by Rory Feek
Last fall, after performing a couple of nights in Branson, we stopped on our way back home to Tennessee at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri. The old homestead that they named ‘Rocky Ridge’ is where Laura and her husband Almonzo settled early in their marriage and where she wrote all the children’s books that the world has come to know and love… Little House on the Prairie, Little House in the Big Woods, Farmer Boy, and a half-dozen or so others. It’s also the place where they raised their daughter Rose, where they grew old, and in time, passed away.
Today the little white house and stone cottage behind it are treasured landmarks where people come from all over the world to experience Mrs. Wilder’s story and the life she lived. The tour guide explained to us that the original house was only one tiny room, barely big enough to fit two people. Although they later expanded the house, what they added on was very modest and primarily only what they needed. Not the sort of home where you might expect a world-renowned author to live. To this day, it remains pretty much the same as when the Wilders occupied it, filled with their personal items and furniture.
Down a path just below the house is a beautiful museum built a few years ago where all of Laura’s letters, writings, childhood artifacts, and even Pa’s fiddle are on display. I grew up watching the Little House on the Prairie TV series with Michael Landon and have been reading the books to Indiana since she was born. I enjoyed walking around with Indy, seeing the home, and gaining a fuller understanding of Laura and Almonzo’s world and their story.
It turned out that while I was a big fan of Mrs. Wilder’s, the ladies who run the museum were big fans and followers of our story. Before we left, we made sure to take a few pictures with them and shared our contact information so we could all keep in touch.
This past spring, the museum reached out and asked if I would come back and be part of their annual Laura Ingalls Wilder Children’s Literature Festival. The timing worked out so that it was during Indiana’s fall break from school. Therefore, in early November, we headed west again to Mansfield, Missouri.
A portion of the two-day event was held in a nearby community center where hundreds of children from the local schools and communities—along with many families—came to meet authors and illustrators the museum had invited into town. We spent a few hours signing books and meeting children, teachers, and parents. I took time each day to read to all the kids who gathered around us in the old gymnasium. On the second day, Indy even read one of my books to them. The kids loved it, and so did Indiana.
In the evening, a special award ceremony was held in the museum to give the Laura Ingalls Wilder Children’s Literature Award. This special medal honors a children’s author who follows in Mrs. Ingalls footsteps and brings goodness and light into folks’ lives through their books. They even took Pa’s original fiddle out of the glass case during the ceremony. A wonderful fiddler played four or five old tunes as we all sat and listened, imagining Pa playing for Laura and Mary in the little house in the big woods all those years ago. Before the evening ended, I shared a few songs and again met lots of folks who’d come to be part of the special night and festival.
While we were there, we noticed a sign at the same interstate exit for another place we’d been wanting to visit: the Baker Creek Seed Company. We have been buying seeds from them for years and are big fans of their catalog and their work to encourage people to grow and save heirloom seeds. Since we were in the area, we decided to stop in to say hello. It turns out they not only have a store where they sell seeds, but they also have a restaurant, a bakery, an outdoor music stage, and what appears to be a whole little 1800s town where people travel to from all over to buy seeds and see the farm.
After a wonderful lunch in their cafe, Jere, owner and founder of Baker Seeds, gave us a tour of their little
town, farm, and seed operations. This was exciting for us because they have about thirty different green—or hoop– houses where they’re still growing lots of vegetables and flowers, long after most gardens around the country have already stopped producing and their plots have been plowed under. We were amazed by all the orange trees, limes, and avocados they’re growing and the many other fruits and vegetables they’ve planted that will keep producing through January and beyond.
Before we left, we bought a few things from Debbie, Jere’s mom, who bakes for, and runs, the bakery. She also makes sweet little prairie dresses by hand, so I let Indy pick one out, adding to the few she wears to our little one-room schoolhouse at home.
Looking back on our trip, it was memorable in so many ways. First, because of all the nice people we got to meet and things we got to see, but also because it reminds me how—quite often—the places we think we are headed are actually only places on the way to somewhere else that God is leading us to. If we hadn’t made the trip to Branson last year, we wouldn’t have discovered the Little House Museum or got to be part of their special event in November. And if we hadn’t come back to be part of the book festival, we wouldn’t have discovered the inspiring farm and the things they are doing at Baker Creek. //
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Rory Feek is a world-class storyteller, songwriter, filmmaker, and New York Times best-selling author. As a musical artist, Rory is one-half of the Grammy-award-winning duo, Joey+Rory. He and his wife, Joey, toured the world and sold nearly a million records, before her untimely passing in March 2016.