Laura Ingalls wasn't much more than a toddler in the early 1870s when the family built and lived in a one-room log cabin near Independence in southeast Kansas (100 miles southeast of Wichita). On this website, you'll find photos of a reconstructed cabin and two other original buildings you can tour on the town's official Little House on the Prairie historic site: the 1870s Sunnyside School and a post office from the same era.

A prairie life page on the website lists the stern rules that Laura and other rural schoolteachers had to abide by in the post-frontier era. A map shows the circuitous Heartland route the Ingalls family traveled, spurred by a father with pioneering wanderlust, during Laura's youth.

You'll also find information about other nearby locations you can visit that were mentioned in Little House on the Prairie. Dining and lodging information for Independence is on the website, and you can shop online at The Prairie Store.

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