House.
	Just outside Mansfield in Missouri is the final home of Laura and Almanzo Wilder, Rocky Ridge Farm. It was here in the autumn of her life that she put pen to paper and recalled her life as a child living in a pioneering family. Those memories became the children's books she is so famous for . For many Laura fans the house is the least interesting because it does not appear in her books but the house was designed by Laura and gives some insight to her character. The house is basically a time capsule from the late 1950's. Everything has been kept as it was on the day Laura died. In this respect it would be typical of an elderly couple living at that time surrounded by a lifetime's collection of furniture and objects. Rocky Ridge is Laura's invention and many of its features are there by her request. Particularly delightful is the serving hatch between the kitchen and the dining room enabling Laura to place food on the table directly without having to carry it around. While we were there Laura's clock chimed. It is wound every day just as Almanzo would have done. The living room is probably the place I enjoyed seeing the most. It isn't difficult to see Laura and Almanzo spending restful evenings together in this room reading or in conversation. The ample extra seating would provide hospitality for several guests and from what we were told they received many guests. I had heard of the rock fireplace for which Laura shed tears for Almanzo to create; and here it is. The tour ends with us leaving by the front door. One might have expected the steps to lead to a path going down to the road but there is no path there today. There was once a path to the house from a set of gates in front of the road. It is possible to wander down to the fence and see the old gate posts as a reminder that the house was once a home.
	OTHER PAGES ON THE FRONTIER GIRL TRAIL. Rocky Ridge Museum, Rocky Ridge House, Mansfield, Mansfield Cemetery Kansas Prairie, Independence Kansas, Keystone South Dakota, De Smet, Pa's Claim site, The Homestead, De Smet Cemetery, De Smet Pageant. Tracy, Walnut Grove Museum, Plum Creek, Walnut Grove Pageant. South Troy, Lake Pepin, Pepin Museum, Big Woods house. Burr Oak, Ia., Vinton Iowa. Trail Home Page - - - Frontier Girl Main site Copyright ©, 2000 - Phil Greetham.