Laura Ingalls Wilder Week: The Rock Home

Last week was spring break for me, so I took the time off to visit my dad and my grandmother, who is ill with cancer, in Missouri. My grandma finished her last radiation treatment while we were there, so we are hoping that things look good and that she’ll start to get stronger and be able to care for herself again.

While there, my dad took us to the Laura Ingalls Wilder house in Mansfield. I have been wanting to visit this historic site for some time, but we were last there during Christmas, and the house is not open until March 1. I had good timing for this trip, and we took a day to visit the site.

So this week on my blog, I’ll be posting all about that day trip and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

To see Monday’s post, click here.

After touring the Wilder’s more “comfortable home,” we next drove up the street a short distance to the rock house. It was a beautiful English cottage style home with a beautiful rock exterior. It was located in the most beautiful area, surrounded by trees with rolling hills and no neighbors. The home is slightly larger than the other house, and it was designed by an architect. It was not furnished, but held some of Laura’s dish collections. It had a living room with an adjoined dining area. It also had a small kitchen, two bedrooms (his and hers), and a shared bathroom in beautiful, original Kelly green tile. I am starting to think that this shade of green was Laura’s favorite color.

It is a more “formal” home, and their daughter Rose Wilder Lane had it built for her parents after she became wealthy as a writer. The home cost some $11,000. Rose was one of the highest paid journalists of her time and a successful author. I find it interesting and somewhat sad that she has been largely forgotten while her mother, who didn’t start writing her books until age 65, and did so with the help of her daughter, is a lasting figure of children’s literature who is almost universally known.

When I posted this picture on Instagram and Facebook, my friends had such an enthusiastic response that I realize they were just as nerdy as I am. They were like “No way! Shut up!” and “I want to go there!” and “This is so cool!” I love that my friends appreciate historical children’s literature and sites as much as I do. I obviously have made friends with the right people.

I would love to live in a home like this one.  It is beautiful.