Ingalls Field Trip

Yesterday was the 4th grade field trip to the Ingalls Homestead in DeSmet, SD.  I haven't been there since I was in either 3rd or 4th grade so it was fun to look around.  It was really windy (nothing new) and I was exhausted by the time we left.  Some of the pictures aren't great since I was trying to supervise and take pics at the same time.  We were also rushed through some places since we weren't the only school visiting.

First up was a dugout home built into a hillside.  The Ingalls didn't live in a dugout here in SD but it was built as an example of what many homesteaders lived in before they built an actual home.

The sod walls inside the dugout.  One of my kids dug a big chunk out of one of the walls before I noticed what he was doing.  Yeah, I'm a super supervisor.

Our next stop was to the hayroof barn.

They had a calf and a few chickens inside.  The kids were going crazy climbing on the hay bales so I wasn't able to get a good picture of the inside.

Ma's house and the hayroof barn were reconstruced on the original sites.  We had to do a quick run through of the house so I didn't get the best pictures.  Looking at this house, it's amazing to think that they made it through the rough SD winter.

Looking left from the front door.

Looking right from the table.

The first bedroom straight in from the front door.

Standing next to the organ looking across the room.

Standing by the rocker looking back at the organ.

Next we got to take a covered wagon ride up to the old school house.  The  kids really enjoyed this as each one got to take a turn "driving" the wagon.

Inside the one room school house.

Outhouse for student/teacher use.

They also had activities for the kids to do: corn doll making, grinding wheat into flour, hay twisting, and rope making.

It was a tiring but fun day.