Laura and Almonzo's Homes

I have been watching reruns of LHOTP and I am enjoying them so much. I have a question about the homes Laura and Almonzo lived in.

One episode I saw showed them living in a small cabin similar to Ma and Pa's. They had a small baby who died of SIDS. Then I saw an episode where they lived in a much larger and nicer home and I don't believe they had any children. I saw yet another episode where they lived in a large home and rented rooms to boarders.

Which home came 1st-2nd-3rd---and why so many moves?

Thank you. I am glad I found this forum. I hope someone here can answer my questions.

Donna

Hi Donna, welcome to the LHotP forum.

I think I can answer your questions. Laura and Almanzo's first home was the one Almanzo and his sister Eliza Jane lived in before Laura and Almanzo got married. The home became available when Eliza Jane decided to move to St. Louis and pretended that she was marrying a guy named Harve Miller, who actually married another woman. Eliza Jane, the Walnut Grove school teacher, came up with this story so that Laura and Almanzo could live in Walnut Grove and Laura could teach. Laura had a teaching job lined up in Radner, but Almanzo didn't want her to take the job, and their arguing over this almost broke them up. Laura and Almanzo lived there for a couple of years, and then, in an episode called "Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow" (which is rarely shown because it's a two-part episode and one of the parts runs 90 minutes so it's hard to schedule), Laura and Almanzo's daughter Rose is born, a tornado destroys the house, and Almanzo is paralyzed and has to learn to walk again. Almanzo recovers, and he and Charles build a new home for the Wilders. A year or so later, a wealthy woman wills her large home to Laura. After the woman dies, Laura, Almanzo, and Rose move into the large home. They realize it's too big for them and realize they could make some money by renting the extra space. Newly married Willie and Rachel Oleson, Mr. Edwards, and later a writer named Mr. Montague live in the boarding house. Hope this helps.

DCAMP

John gave you a good answer already
These are the episodes where you can see her move in to the houses

1st House (Medium size white one)
Episode: "Laura Ingalls Wilder" - Season 7

2nd House (Small cabinlike one)
Episode: "Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow" - Season 8

3rd House (Huge boarding one)
Episode: "May I Have This Dance" - Season 9

And let me just say for the record that it always bugged me that the Wilders left the home that Almanzo built and moved into the boarding house. It meant so much that Almanzo--who was still recovering from a stroke--built a home for his family, recommitting himself to Laura and Rose and to making a life for them in Walnut Grove. How could they leave that home and move into the boarding house? :think:

bethandmanly wrote:

And let me just say for the record that it always bugged me that the Wilders left the home that Almanzo built and moved into the boarding house. It meant so much that Almanzo--who was still recovering from a stroke--built a home for his family, recommitting himself to Laura and Rose and to making a life for them in Walnut Grove. How could they leave that home and move into the boarding house? :think:

OH, Cheryl, 100% agreement!! I loved the house that Almanzo built and restored!!! That was just too special to leave. And then they throw this old woman into the mix, trying to make us naiively believe that Laura had had this lifelong friendship with her. :think: Just makes me nuts...I hated the idea of the boarding house, and never warmed up to it. At the end of the series, it was just one thing after another that they kept doing to bring the show down, and IMHO, this was the worst. :sad5: Well, ok, next to the Carters.

Welcome to the board, DCamp!

Amy wrote:

bethandmanly wrote:

And let me just say for the record that it always bugged me that the Wilders left the home that Almanzo built and moved into the boarding house. It meant so much that Almanzo--who was still recovering from a stroke--built a home for his family, recommitting himself to Laura and Rose and to making a life for them in Walnut Grove. How could they leave that home and move into the boarding house? :think:

OH, Cheryl, 100% agreement!! I loved the house that Almanzo built and restored!!! That was just too special to leave. And then they throw this old woman into the mix, trying to make us naiively believe that Laura had had this lifelong friendship with her. :think: Just makes me nuts...I hated the idea of the boarding house, and never warmed up to it. At the end of the series, it was just one thing after another that they kept doing to bring the show down, and IMHO, this was the worst. :sad5: Well, ok, next to the Carters.

Welcome to the board, DCamp!

I agree with both of you. After everything that they went through together, just to toss the home aside to move into a big house? And, for pity sake!! We've followed Laura through her entire life in Walnut Grove. We'd KNOW if she knew this elderly woman. How stupid do they think we are? It just seemed like a contrived, silly idea to me.

And, welcome, DCamp!! I hope you join right in on the fun. There's always room for one more prairie friend!

Then I guess you girls weren't too upset when they blew it up at the end of the series!

The thing is, they never explained what happened to the farm afterwards. Did they sell it? They didn't really need to since they inherited the old lady's house. And, what did Almanzo do for a living after they moved there? There was no regular livestock on the property and you never saw him out working, so did they keep the old farm and live off what it produced or what? Farming was such a big part of Almanzo's life that I can't believe it just got left out during the last two episodes and in the movies. Am I forgetting something? Did we see Almanzo working on the farm at all once they moved to the boarding house?

And then in the Last Farewell, Almanzo gets all upset because the railroad is going to come in and take his land that he's worked so hard on, but he didn't work for the boarding house. He had no blood, sweat, or tears invested in it. I think that's when I missed the house he built for his family the most. All the others in town could be upset because they were losing something they had put a lot of time and effort into, especially Doc Baker and the Olesons. While I could understand Almanzo's outrage of being forced from what he called home, he lost the first place he toiled over because of a tornado and he abandoned the second one to move into the boarding house.

Thank all of you for your replys and for the warm welcome to the board. I didn't watch the show too much while growing up, so now I'm learning all about Walnut Grove from the reruns.

It really is a sweet little show compared to a lot of the garbage on TV now. I have a lot to learn and hope I will be able to do so here.

Again, many thanks.

Donna

Welcome to the prairie, Donna!!!

Misti wrote:

Then I guess you girls weren't too upset when they blew it up at the end of the series!

I still didn't like that.
I guess there's just no pleasing me.

Savannah wrote:

I agree with both of you. After everything that they went through together, just to toss the home aside to move into a big house? And, for pity sake!! We've followed Laura through her entire life in Walnut Grove. We'd KNOW if she knew this elderly woman. How stupid do they think we are? It just seemed like a contrived, silly idea to me.

And, welcome, DCamp!! I hope you join right in on the fun. There's always room for one more prairie friend!

That Sounds VERY Lady Like

Welcome, Donna! Yes; they didn't run these kind of shows any more and it's a pity. I think that LHOTP it's one of the better TV shows ever made.

Oh, yes...I should have left Laura and Almanzo living in the little cabin Almanzo had built with his own hands while recovering. This was the spirit of LHOTP. The whole board house's story is not of my taste...Very "Nine season like"....Isn't it?

Vanesa.

Vanesa wrote:

...Very "Nine season like"....Isn't it?

Vanesa.

That's the perfect way to describe it, Vanesa!