Mansfield, Missouri: On the Laura Ingalls Wilder Trail

We wandered along the Missouri backroads to the small town of Mansfield, just off the US 60 expressway winding eastward from Springfield. This is where Laura Ingalls Wilder set up her "little house in the Ozarks" after leaving the prairies, and is where she wrote all her classic books. There's more books than we thought - authors working with permission of the estate are strip-mining every branch of the family tree for inspiring stories.

We then went into Mansfield to see Laura's bust mounted in the town square. Also in the town square is a memorial to a certain Homer Edgell Fry, "for outstanding civic service far beyond the call of duty". This memorial is notable for the fact that its top was graced with two large green concrete frogs, attentively crouched as if to salute the memory of Mr. Fry.

We then visited the Wilder gravesite on the edge of town (we visited lots of dead folks on this trip). While not as surreally compelling as Elvis' final resting place, it was touching to see all the mementos left by Little Houseitzers young and old.

We followed this up with a very hearty & satisfying meal at the Little House Buffet, which I don't quite recall being mentioned in any of the books... [Richard C. Moeur, 08/18/2000]