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Rocky Ridge Farm
The Birthplace of the Little House Books
By Sue Marquette Poremba
Today the farmhouse is part of a small museum complex that showcases the lives of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. Parking is across the street from the house, and we had to walk up the driveway to the museum. There may have been a dozen people visiting while we were there. The women who sold us the tickets explained that we could visit the museum for as long as we liked. Our admission also included viewing a short film about the Wilders, a tour of the farmhouse and a tour of the Rock House.
The museum building is home to a number of artifacts from the Little House books, such as the china jewelry box from On the Banks of Plum Creek (Harper Collins, 1953), the bread plate saved from the fire in The First Four Years (Harper-Trophy, 1953), quilts and beadwork and hairpieces. But the first thing I saw when I walked into the museum was Pa's fiddle.
I couldn't help it. I got choked up. A tear trickled down my cheek. "It's Pa's fiddle!" I cried, pointing it out to my husband. The lady who sold us the tickets assured my husband that my reaction was normal. The fiddle is the thread that weaves throughout the books, a source of strength for the family in good times and bad. Seeing it in person was very powerful and very moving.
We wandered around the museum, and I told my husband the significance of many f the pieces on display (I noticed other wives doing the same thing with their husbands). My husband, however, seemed more interested in the display of Rose Wilder Lane's life. Rose was a journalist, and it was she who encouraged Laura to write the Little House books.