Chris and I drove just north of the park entrance to Prairie Homestead. The original sod home of Mr. and Mrs. Brown is still there for us to see. Homesteads were available around the turn of the century and these brave souls arrived in 1909 with their covered wagon ready to start farming. They arrived in November with their bachelor son and quickly built a sod home into the hillside. I can’t even imagine living here with sub zero temperatures over the long winter! She was 51 when they arrived and lived out most of her life right here and loving it, hard work and all. Over time hey added out buildings for the animals and a root cellar. The living room was a deserted claim shack they moved here. Early on they had neighbors. All of the 160 acre plots were taken by eager farmers but by 1915 most has moved on. Some of the furnishing were their original pieces. The have the grub box they brought with them full of some of their household items.
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| The Brown's Sod House from 1909 |
We drove up the loop road to the Fossil Walk. They have copies of some of the fossils found here. The kids were loving it. We also stopped and took a walk out to the Door area. It was another picture perfect day.
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| Check out the jaw bone. This area is rich in fossils. |
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| Reproduction of fossil found in this area along the Fossil Walk. |
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| What a gorgeous expanse! |
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| View from the Visitor Center parking lot - beautiful! |
Back at the home front, we did laundry to get ready for Custer State Park. I’m excited about meeting up with Faye and John in a couple of days!
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