Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in many “little houses” throughout her life. Many of the places Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about are now museums you can visit. If you can’t go in person, consider using Google Earth or another online program to take a virtual tour. Visit their websites and look for these museums on social media and YouTube to learn more about each site. 

And it's summer! If you'll be near any of these, be sure to visit or make it your destination!

Please note, museum descriptions were provided from the museums for my book The Laura Ingalls Wilder Companion: A Chapter-by-Chapter Guide and provided here for your convenience. The websites included in the book may be out of date. These were checked May 2025.

306 3rd Street (Hwy 35), PO Box 269

Pepin, Wisconsin 54759

715-513-6383

and

Little House Wayside Cabin

N3228 Cty CC

Stockholm, Wisconsin 54769

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society operates a museum and gift shop in the village of Pepin and hosts Laura Days annually in September. (Learn more at www.LauraDays.org.) The Little House Wayside Cabin is built on three acres of land that was part of Charles and Caroline Ingalls’s farm and the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder. The cabin is just 7 miles (11 km) north of Pepin and is open every day of the year for visitors. (They have no water or electricity).

2507 CR 3000

Independence, Kansas 67301

620-289-4238

The Little House on the Prairie Museum educates the public about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her books in addition to life on the prairie in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The museum is on the original land where the Ingalls family lived in 1870. 

330 Eighth Street

Walnut Grove, Minnesota 56180

800-528-7280 or 507-859-2358

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum includes many buildings for visitors to learn the history of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Walnut Grove as well as the Little House on the Prairie television show. Visit a dugout the same size as the one Ingalls family lived in and a replica pioneer house like the one described in On the Banks of Plum Creek. Enjoy an outdoor theater production of Laura’s life in Walnut Grove three weekends every July. Nearby is the original site of the dugout.

See more pictures and learn about my trip to the Walnut Grove museum and the dugout site. 

3603 236th Avenue

Burr Oak, Iowa 52101

563-735-5916

The Masters Hotel, now the Laura Ingalls Wilder Park & Museum, is in Burr Oak, Iowa. This is where the Ingalls family lived and worked from 1876-1877. It’s also the birthplace of Grace Ingalls. Guided tours are offered at the Masters Hotel, the only childhood home of Laura Ingalls Wilder that remains standing on its original site.

20812 Homestead Road

De Smet, South Dakota 57231

605-854-3984

The Ingalls Homestead is located on the land Charles Ingalls earned from the Homestead Act and turned into a farm. Visitors experience pioneer heritage through hands-on activities. Drive a covered wagon, attend a one-room schoolhouse, make ropes and corn cob dolls, twist haysticks and grind wheat, and camp on the open prairie like Laura described in her books. 

105 Olivet Avenue

De Smet, South Dakota 57231

800-880-3383

Discover Laura! Enjoy a Laura Ingalls Wilder adventure through the Surveyors’ House, the First School of De Smet attended by Laura and Carrie and see the final home of Ma and Pa Ingalls. Spend the day visiting the museum and exhibit containing original Ingalls-Wilder artifacts and try pioneer activities in our Discover Center. Stop by Pa’s homestead where the five original cottonwood trees stand that Pa planted for Ma and each of the girls. 

177 Stacy Road

Malone, New York 12953

518-483-1207

The Almanzo & Laura Ingalls Wilder Association (ALIWA) maintains the Almanzo Wilder Homestead in Burke, NY which is the original home of Almanzo Wilder and site of the book, Farmer Boy, written by his wife, Laura Ingalls Wilder. The 84-acre homestead includes a restored farmhouse (1840-1843), reconstructed barns and outbuildings, a replica one room schoolhouse, and more. The visitor center includes a museum, research library, archives, and gift shop. 

See more pictures and learn more about my trip to the Almanzo Wilder Homestead.

221 West Courtland St

Spring Valley, Minnesota 55975

507-346-7659

The Wilder family lived in Spring Valley for over thirty years. The Wilders attended church in the Methodist church building. A section of the Spring Valley Methodist Church Museum’s is dedicated to the family of Almanzo Wilder. Additional museum displays include historical information about Spring Valley and the Methodist church.