LIW Tour, Day 2: Walnut Grove, MN
On the morning of Tuesday, May 20, we left Pepin, WI and headed west on US-14 towards Walnut Grove, MN. We headed to the campsite first, where everyone helped set up the tent. First came the spreading out of the tarp, and then of the tent on the tarp.
D and T helped with the pounding in of the tent stakes.
R was very focused on her pole-straightening task.
J was pretty intense about straightening those tent poles, too.
Everybody kept at it, and progress was pretty quick.
It's starting to look like a tent! You can see a playground in the background; this was a very nice campsite.
The last step is to put the rain fly on, which buckles on to the tent itself. R was determined to get that buckle fastened by herself.
Determination!
Camp site complete with comfortable chairs around the fire ring; hurray!
Then we set off for town so we could go to the museum. Out front was one of those things with the cut-out faces. Since there were four faces to fill, the kids of course had to line up for a picture, whether the sexes and hair colors matched or not.
There was also a small covered wagon out front that you could climb into and play in.
T and J on the wagon seat, refusing to sit still for a picture.
Inside were a number of Garth Williams' original illustrations, always set up with an original sketch, final drawing, the version from the published book, and an associated quote. Here, a drawing of the cookstove from "the wonderful house" Pa builds of sawed lumber in On the Banks of Plum Creek.
This one is the drawing of Mary and Laura first entering the house in the ground.
Pa owns a book about animals, which appears a few times in the books; so far as I can remember, it is always referred to only as "Pa's green book," or perhaps as "Pa's animal book."
Here's the title page; it turns out it is The Polar and Tropical Worlds: A Popular and Scientific Description of Man and Nature in the Polar and Equatorial Regions of the Globe.
There was also a section on Mary's blindness. It seems that a stroke, with accompanying fever, was the most likely cause. In a small community such as Walnut Grove, her illness was apparently newsworthy, since they have not just family accounts of the illness but also newspaper clippings giving updates on "Miss Mary Ingalls" and her condition.
The museum was in the form of several small buildings. In one, named "Grandma's House," there was a whole room devoted to toys and games of the era that children could play with and enjoy.
R was quite fond of the wooden model of an old-fashioned woodburning stove.
They also had a "parlor organ" that we were allowed to play. Also referred to as "house organs" or "pump organs," these were smaller and lighter than pianos and did not require tuning as pianos do, and so were preferable to most pioneers. I played this one and was surprised at its quietness; "organ" in my mind has typically translated to "church pipe organ," which was clearly not the right image to have for what Pa and Laura bought Mary while she was in college. I think, however, that this one was not in the best condition; other parlor organs that we encountered later in the trip were louder, and it's possible that the pumping mechanism in this one is in need of repair.
Every once in a while, the books will refer to quilts by the name of their block patterns, but most of these names mean very little to modern audiences. This, for anyone who's ever been curious, is a "bear's-track" quilt such as Laura started in Walnut Grove.
This is a "dove in the window" quilt, similar in design to the one Laura took with her when she got married.
As is common with anything LIW-related, there was a little one-room schoolhouse that R and J spent a few minutes exploring.
J appreciated the arithmetic problems that were left on the teacher's desk, but had difficulty remembering all the numbers given in the more complicated ones. Some slate pencils would have been helpful.
The 1915 Rules for Teachers were amusing. Note the prohibitions on "loiter[ing] downtown in ice cream parlors," marrying or keeping company with men or riding anywhere with a man who wasn't a relative, smoking, hair-dying, short skirts, and bright colors. Also, there is a list of required cleaning tasks that might put modern school janitors to shame.
Another building had a number of different areas, somewhat in the style of a children's museum, where you could pretend to be in a building from Laura's era. In the general store area, one could weigh items and sell various groceries and other items to one's "customers."
Checkers was a very popular game and could be found and played in most general stores of the time.
In the post office area, one could sort a stack of pretend letters into the little cubbyholes for various customers.
The antique telephone booth was the only thing in the room that could be touched but carried additional rules. Under parental supervision, one could place pretend calls with the antique phone as long as one didn't try to close the door or touch its glass.
The phone in the post office was slightly more modern.
Off-limits for touching was this actual covered wagon, of typical 4' x 10' size, surrounded by a number of the items one might have chosen to try to pack inside. I think Chris's packing skills would have been extremely valuable to the pioneers. (Sadly, I'm not sure I actually got a picture of the back of the van from this trip.)
This small building is the same size as the "enormous" house Pa built of sawed lumber on the farm in Walnut Grove. With two rooms - one for sleeping, one for living - and an attic for Mary and Laura to sleep in, it was palatial compared to the dugout they'd been living in.
Speaking of the dugout, they had a picture of an actual dugout from the era. Small and primitive, they were the sort of temporary housing that would give a family strong motivation to work towards something better.
They also had a reconstruction of a dugout (on which they had cheated a bit by reinforcing it with cement and other more durable materials so they wouldn't have to rebuild it every three years). The kids obligingly posed with the book for me outside the reconstructed dugout.
Here you can get a slightly better sense of the size of the place. In addition to having a tendency towards leaking, it would have been small and cramped, especially during the winter months.
Our next stop was the grocery store, where we were surprised to discover a significant Asian section. This is a better selection of Asian sauces than you'll find in many Chicago stores!
In addition to the sauces, they had cans of straw mushrooms larger than J's head!
Supper was enjoyed around the campfire.
Everyone was pretty happy at the end of a good day, and R's smile exemplifies it nicely.
We went to bed, still looking forward to seeing Plum Creek the next day.
Newt
D and T helped with the pounding in of the tent stakes.
R was very focused on her pole-straightening task.
J was pretty intense about straightening those tent poles, too.
Everybody kept at it, and progress was pretty quick.
It's starting to look like a tent! You can see a playground in the background; this was a very nice campsite.
The last step is to put the rain fly on, which buckles on to the tent itself. R was determined to get that buckle fastened by herself.
Determination!
Camp site complete with comfortable chairs around the fire ring; hurray!
Then we set off for town so we could go to the museum. Out front was one of those things with the cut-out faces. Since there were four faces to fill, the kids of course had to line up for a picture, whether the sexes and hair colors matched or not.
There was also a small covered wagon out front that you could climb into and play in.
T and J on the wagon seat, refusing to sit still for a picture.
Inside were a number of Garth Williams' original illustrations, always set up with an original sketch, final drawing, the version from the published book, and an associated quote. Here, a drawing of the cookstove from "the wonderful house" Pa builds of sawed lumber in On the Banks of Plum Creek.
This one is the drawing of Mary and Laura first entering the house in the ground.
Pa owns a book about animals, which appears a few times in the books; so far as I can remember, it is always referred to only as "Pa's green book," or perhaps as "Pa's animal book."
Here's the title page; it turns out it is The Polar and Tropical Worlds: A Popular and Scientific Description of Man and Nature in the Polar and Equatorial Regions of the Globe.
There was also a section on Mary's blindness. It seems that a stroke, with accompanying fever, was the most likely cause. In a small community such as Walnut Grove, her illness was apparently newsworthy, since they have not just family accounts of the illness but also newspaper clippings giving updates on "Miss Mary Ingalls" and her condition.
The museum was in the form of several small buildings. In one, named "Grandma's House," there was a whole room devoted to toys and games of the era that children could play with and enjoy.
R was quite fond of the wooden model of an old-fashioned woodburning stove.
They also had a "parlor organ" that we were allowed to play. Also referred to as "house organs" or "pump organs," these were smaller and lighter than pianos and did not require tuning as pianos do, and so were preferable to most pioneers. I played this one and was surprised at its quietness; "organ" in my mind has typically translated to "church pipe organ," which was clearly not the right image to have for what Pa and Laura bought Mary while she was in college. I think, however, that this one was not in the best condition; other parlor organs that we encountered later in the trip were louder, and it's possible that the pumping mechanism in this one is in need of repair.
Every once in a while, the books will refer to quilts by the name of their block patterns, but most of these names mean very little to modern audiences. This, for anyone who's ever been curious, is a "bear's-track" quilt such as Laura started in Walnut Grove.
This is a "dove in the window" quilt, similar in design to the one Laura took with her when she got married.
As is common with anything LIW-related, there was a little one-room schoolhouse that R and J spent a few minutes exploring.
J appreciated the arithmetic problems that were left on the teacher's desk, but had difficulty remembering all the numbers given in the more complicated ones. Some slate pencils would have been helpful.
The 1915 Rules for Teachers were amusing. Note the prohibitions on "loiter[ing] downtown in ice cream parlors," marrying or keeping company with men or riding anywhere with a man who wasn't a relative, smoking, hair-dying, short skirts, and bright colors. Also, there is a list of required cleaning tasks that might put modern school janitors to shame.
Another building had a number of different areas, somewhat in the style of a children's museum, where you could pretend to be in a building from Laura's era. In the general store area, one could weigh items and sell various groceries and other items to one's "customers."
Checkers was a very popular game and could be found and played in most general stores of the time.
In the post office area, one could sort a stack of pretend letters into the little cubbyholes for various customers.
The antique telephone booth was the only thing in the room that could be touched but carried additional rules. Under parental supervision, one could place pretend calls with the antique phone as long as one didn't try to close the door or touch its glass.
The phone in the post office was slightly more modern.
Off-limits for touching was this actual covered wagon, of typical 4' x 10' size, surrounded by a number of the items one might have chosen to try to pack inside. I think Chris's packing skills would have been extremely valuable to the pioneers. (Sadly, I'm not sure I actually got a picture of the back of the van from this trip.)
This small building is the same size as the "enormous" house Pa built of sawed lumber on the farm in Walnut Grove. With two rooms - one for sleeping, one for living - and an attic for Mary and Laura to sleep in, it was palatial compared to the dugout they'd been living in.
Speaking of the dugout, they had a picture of an actual dugout from the era. Small and primitive, they were the sort of temporary housing that would give a family strong motivation to work towards something better.
They also had a reconstruction of a dugout (on which they had cheated a bit by reinforcing it with cement and other more durable materials so they wouldn't have to rebuild it every three years). The kids obligingly posed with the book for me outside the reconstructed dugout.
Here you can get a slightly better sense of the size of the place. In addition to having a tendency towards leaking, it would have been small and cramped, especially during the winter months.
Our next stop was the grocery store, where we were surprised to discover a significant Asian section. This is a better selection of Asian sauces than you'll find in many Chicago stores!
In addition to the sauces, they had cans of straw mushrooms larger than J's head!
Supper was enjoyed around the campfire.
Everyone was pretty happy at the end of a good day, and R's smile exemplifies it nicely.
We went to bed, still looking forward to seeing Plum Creek the next day.
Newt