There’s a plaque and a roped off area marking where the dugout was, and the family also had a house on the land later that also hasn’t survived. The first place the Ingalls family lived in Walnut Grove was in a dugout on Plum Creek, which hasn’t survived the years. The Ingalls family actually lived in Walnut Grove, Minnesota twice, before and after living in Burr Oak. The rest haven’t survived or have been moved.

But even though there weren’t many things to see that related to the Ingalls family, the tour guide was very knowledgeable about their time in the hotel and explained the significance of each of the rooms.īut what the hotel lacks in historic artifacts, it does have one historical advantage- it’s the only childhood home of Laura that is on its original site. So most of the items in the hotel are just historical pieces from the time that Laura had lived there. Since the Ingalls family didn’t live in Burr Oak for very long, there aren’t many artifacts in the museum relating to Laura’s life. The family worked in the hotel after leaving Walnut Grove after the grasshopper plagues, and Grace was born while they were in Burr Oak. The Ingalls family lived here 1876-1877, so they weren’t in Burr Oak for very long. Since the Ingalls family moved around pretty often, some of the sites were more significant than others, so if you’re looking for Laura Ingalls Wilder homes to visit, these are my recommendations!Īfter we visited Decorah, Iowa, we stopped by Burr Oak to visit the Masters Hotel.

The whole inspiration behind my Iowa road trip was to visit Laura Ingalls Wilder’s homes in the area! We visited Burr Oak in Iowa, Walnut Grove in Minnesota, and DeSmet in South Dakota.

Laura ingalls wilder house