1 mi E of junction of Hwy 71 and 14 on the Laura Ingalls Historic Highway, located 20 miles from Walnut Grove. Our route took us through Mankato, Minnesota. After all the new information and history we’d taken in during our time in Mankato, we were ready to play! Since Breece actually admitted he had fun here, we’ll let him tell it: In social studies last year we did a unit on westward expansion and I learned about sod houses. At re-created forts, meet the adventurers who shaped the Upper Midwest. Visitors walk down paths lined with prairie grasses and wildflowers dame's rocket and beardtongue, ox-eye daisy and black-eyed Susan. The sign said it was a hunter’s cabin or something but that it was the actual dimensions of the dugout that the Ingalls lived in at Plum Creek. Questions about reading, writing, dyslexia and more, Author Interviews 1 mi E of junction of Hwy 71 and 14 on the Laura Ingalls Historic Highway, located 20 miles from Walnut Grove. Brits swarmed Wisconsin? Once, a corner of northeast Minnesota was the center of the fur-trade universe. Prairie rains washed away most sod houses over the years. A farmer, he'd heard stories about the early sod houses. "They had diphtheria, which blocks the air passages. At this place there was a sod house, made by stacking up blocks cut out of grass and dirt, and a dugout, which had some sod walls built around a big hole. Thick prairie sod covered the roof, and walls were constructed of sod blocks, creating a well-insulated but damp home. Twenty miles east of Walnut Grove, the late Stan McCone always told it as it was. MidwestWeekends.com — Your Travel Guide to the Upper Midwest. The U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 was five years before Laura Ingalls was born but had to have influenced how she and her family — especially her mother — felt about Native Americans. "It was something you really didn't want to talk about.''. Pinpoint the problem a struggling reader is having and how to help, Reading Interventions That didn’t stop us from talking about it though and discussing why it is important to look at history through multiple perspectives. Nearby attractions: The Jeffers Petroglyphs are nine miles south of Sanborn off U.S. 71. That isn’t much of a Laura-Ingalls-Wilder reason to stop there, but there is a good reason to learn more about Mankato’s history and how it figures into the Ingalls’ journey, actions and attitudes. Copyright © 2020 WETA Public Broadcasting, Visit WETA's other education websites: Start with a Book | Colorín Colorado | AdLit | LD OnLine, The reasons why some kids struggle with reading, Target the Problem! Since we don’t have time (and we couldn’t determine if it was still open), we’re not planning to stop in New Ulm, Minnesota, where the Brown County Historical Society has a museum that explores the U.S.–Dakota War. Fans of the “Little House on the Prairie” television series may remember Mankato as the “big city” where Pa made deliveries. If we followed the Ingalls’ journey according to the Little House series, after we left the Big Woods in Wisconsin, our next stop should be Independence, Kansas. Sod House on the Prairie, about 20 miles east of Walnut Grove, was built by local farmer Stan McCone to show how folks used to live in the late 1800s. It was very tiny. The rich man's soddie, however, has whitewashed walls, paned glass windows and a roof supported by planks and covered with tarpaper under the sod. The guests, over the years, added to the McCones' sod-house lore. Last updated on July 31, 2019 It was once used as a bed-and-breakfast, but the McCones tired of that and now let tourists come and explore the sod structures and the reclaimed prairie for a small admission. Nama (Janet) and mom (Rachael) dressed up too. It was once used as a bed-and-breakfast, but the McCones tired of that and now let tourists come and explore the sod structures and the reclaimed prairie for a small admission.