Jana Segal
While visiting my mom in Missouri, we took a self-guided tour of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Rocky Ridge Farmhouse in Mansfield where Laura wrote the beloved Little House books. What a lovely day! The introduction included a charming documentary featuring a recording of the elderly Laura making a speech about how everything that she wrote about really happened to her.
While touring the museum, I was struck by the similarities between the mother-daughter relationship of Rose Wilder and Laura Ingalls Wilder and my own relationship with my mother. The first thing I noticed was that mother and daughter were both writers - just as we are. Laura's daughter Rose was a successful writer and editor for the San Francisco Bulletin when she encouraged her mother to jot down her stories. Rose used that expertise to give her mom feedback on her work - just as I gave mom feedback on her children's manuscript. It was encouraging to read that Laura's first book, "Little House in the Big Woods" wasn't published until she was a senior citizen in 1932. (See, mom, there's hope for you yet!) Inspired by her mom's stories, Rose went on to write, "The Young Pioneers." Likewise, I was inspired to adapt my mom's family story, "Model T Biscuits" for the big screen.
my 1880s writing desk
As Mom and I toured the farmhouse, I felt a kinship with Laura and her daughter Rose. Noticing all the pioneer mementos, I sensed that we shared a common nostalgia for South Dakota homesteading heritage. (Mom writes about her own family's South Dakota homesteading adventures in her book, "Wormy Bean Winter.") We spoke to one volunteer who used to be a teacher. She recalled how Laura liked to come to her classroom and read her books. My mom also loved to read her books in me and my siblings' childhood classrooms.
I looked around and saw that we weren't the only ones who felt a special bond with Laura and Rose Wilder. There were people from all over the country (and other countries too) and even a Mennonite family who related to those cherished Little House books.
Laura Ingalls Wilder's Rocky Ridge Farmhouse museum site:
Video of the Rocky Ridge Farmhouse property
Loved it thank you! Love the videos too.. takes me back to when I was in my 20's, I modeled my parenting after Caroline Ingalls, she was a true inspiration to me as a young mother.
ReplyDeleteSoni
Thanks, Soni. I always wished that the Ingall's were my parents.
ReplyDeleteJana
I have collected several of Laura's books through the years. Thanks for such an inspirational story
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. Say, are you writing old timey stories too?
ReplyDelete