Locations
Walnut Grove is in Minnesota, but Little House on the Prairie was filmed just outside Los Angeles. Here’s where the show was really shot, what happened to the sets, and the real Little House places you can visit today.
Where was Little House on the Prairie filmed?
Most of the outdoor scenes were shot at Big Sky Movie Ranch in Simi Valley, California, about an hour northwest of Hollywood. The production built the whole town of Walnut Grove there, along with the Ingalls farm on Plum Creek. Those rolling golden hills stood in for the Minnesota prairie for nine seasons. Big Sky has been used for plenty of other westerns too, including Gunsmoke, Father Murphy and Landon’s own Highway to Heaven.
Indoor scenes, like the inside of the little house, the Mercantile and the schoolhouse, were shot on soundstages at Paramount Studios in Hollywood.
A few other spots appear now and then: Sonora, California, in the Gold Country, where the Old West backlot stood in for bigger towns like Mankato; Lake Sherwood near Thousand Oaks; and Old Tucson Studios in Arizona.
What happened to the Walnut Grove set?
Michael Landon blew it up. In the final TV movie, Little House: The Last Farewell (1984), the townspeople dynamite their own buildings rather than hand them over to a land developer. Those were real explosions on the real set. The church and the little house were spared.
Fire took most of what was left. A 2003 wildfire burned the little house that stood on the ranch, and a later fire destroyed the last remaining pieces. Today it’s open hillside.
Can you visit Big Sky Ranch?
Not usually. Big Sky is a private, working movie ranch and isn’t open to the public. The rare exception was the show’s 50th anniversary cast reunion and festival in March 2024, held at Rancho Santa Susana Community Park in Simi Valley, which included guided tours of the ranch. Keep an eye out for events like that.
The real Little House places you can visit
The TV show was filmed in California, but the real Ingalls family moved all over the Midwest. Nearly every stop is now a museum. Many are seasonal, so check hours before you go.
Pepin, Wisconsin
Little House in the Big Woods
Laura’s birthplace. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum is in town, and a replica of the Big Woods cabin stands a few miles away.
Independence, Kansas
Little House on the Prairie
The Little House on the Prairie Museum sits on the land where the family built their cabin, with a cabin replica, a one-room schoolhouse and the well Pa dug.
Walnut Grove, Minnesota
On the Banks of Plum Creek
Yes, it’s a real town. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum has exhibits on both the family and the TV show, and you can visit the site of the dugout on Plum Creek just north of town.
Burr Oak, Iowa
The year Laura didn’t write about
The family helped run the Masters Hotel here, and it still stands as the Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum. Grace was born in Burr Oak.
De Smet, South Dakota
By the Shores of Silver Lake through The First Four Years
The “Little Town on the Prairie.” See the Surveyors’ House, the school Laura and Carrie attended, the house Pa built in town, and the Ingalls family graves.
Malone, New York
Farmer Boy
Almanzo Wilder’s boyhood farm, now the Wilder Homestead.
Mansfield, Missouri
Where the books were written
Rocky Ridge Farm, the home Laura and Almanzo built and where Laura wrote every Little House book. It’s now the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum, and Laura and Almanzo are buried in Mansfield.