Local Girl Scouts explore Wilder Homestead

A group of New Prague Girl Scouts took a trip to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead in De Smet, SD, last month.

The group departed New Prague at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, July 20, via charter bus. They arrived on the homestead and got situated among five covered wagons and a bunkhouse for lodging accomodations. Some of the group slept in tents outside the wagons. Then the group headed off to learn about life on the prairie. The girls were able to see what life was like in the late 1800s when the Ingalls Family claimed their land on the Dakota prairie. They explored different types of houses such as dugouts and shantys. Also they were able to try their hands at being a pioneer by hand washing clothes, grinding wheat, driving a team of horses pulling a covered wagon, making a jumprope from twine, making a corn cob doll and visiting a couple of one-room school houses.

After a strong thunderstorm the evening before their arrival knocked down and uprooted many trees, the entire town was left without power. That didn’t stop workers from making sure the girls had their fill of fun. The community of De Smet went to all lengths to make sure the scouts had warm meals, even if individuals had to cook in their own homes via generator. They also rounded up as many generators as needed to make sure the Pageant still went on.

Before their return to New Prague the group stopped by the Surveyors House (built in 1879) in De Smet, where the Ingalls Family spent their first winter. Their last stop was at the Ingalls Home which was built by Pa in 1887. This was the last home Pa built and where he and Ma lived until they passed.