Camping at the Ingalls Homestead

To my mind there’s nothing better than spending a day at the Ingalls Homestead in De Smet - unless it’s spending the night. Yes, you heard me right, you can spend the night on the Ingalls’ land, allowing you to get a small peek into what it must have been like to live on the prairie in the 1880s, but with the added benefits of plumbing and electricity.

The Ingalls Homestead offers camping opportunities on their land;  there is space for your RV (with hookups) or tent. But the best news is that if, like me, you don’t have a tent or RV, you can still spend the night by renting one of their covered wagons or an air-conditioned bunkhouse.

The four covered wagons are set in a slight curve on a lovely stretch of land just below the visitor center. It’s as if you’ve been on the trail all day and have just set up camp for the night.

There are two sizes of wagons – large and small, the main difference being that the large wagon can accommodate 2 more than the small.

The interior of each wagon isn’t roomy but I was pleasantly surprised at the comfort. You enter through a small dutch door on one end. There are benches along the side of the wagon and a “large” shelf bed at the other end. They’ll tell you that the bed sleeps two but it would have to be two children or a couple on their honeymoon (that REALLY liked each other) to be comfortable, in my opinion.

In the small wagon, a mattress can be put down on the floor between the benches for another sleeping area. The benches double as beds, along with the floor area, in the large wagon.

Each wagon has its own picnic table right outside the door and bathrooms with showers are just steps away. The wagons have electricity and come equipped with a portable fan, all the comforts of home.

There’s a bunkhouse next to the wagons with two sets of bunkbeds, one double bed and something that the Ingalls would have loved on a hot summer night – air conditioning. Now that’s my idea of roughing it.

Once the day crowds have left, the Homestead is yours to explore. Take a sunset stroll along the hill the way Laura and Mary used to. In the mood for a moonlight hike? There’s something magical about walking where Laura walked, under the stars with only the light of the moon - and your flashlight - to guide you. There are other lodging options in De Smet but this has got to be the most unique and one that a LIW fan will probably find hard to turn down.  Spend a night right on the prairie, you won’t be sorry.