The New York Library Association (NYLA), in conjunction with the Empire State Center for the Book, has secured Literary Landmark™ status for the Wilder Homestead in Burke (Franklin County). United for Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, accepted NYLA’s application for the Wilder Homestead to be included in their program that highlights historic literary sites around the USA. The Homestead, the setting for Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Farmer Boy (1933), is where Laura’s husband Almanzo grew up from 1857 until his family moved to a farm in Minnesota in 1875.
The Wilder Homestead plans to have the dedication of their Literary Landmark™ plaque on Saturday, July 11. A bronze plaque will be unveiled during the ceremony in conjunction with the Homestead’s Children’s Art Event (10 a.m. until 4 p.m.) There will be art activities for children and 19th century games, along with an awards ceremony for the children’s art show which begins Saturday, July 4. The public is invited to hear William Anderson, award-winning author and historian, speak about the Ingalls/Wilder family homes. Museum admission applies to this event. On Facebook.com, “like” the Almanzo Wilder Farm to receive additional details about the dedication ceremony plans as they are finalized.
Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867 – 1957) first wrote about her childhood growing up on the American frontier in Little House in the Big Woods (1932). Farmer Boy was the second title in her “Little House” series. The farmhouse is the only “Little House” venue still on its original property. The Homestead includes the original Wilder home with period furnishings and an 1860s-era one-room schoolhouse which was added in 2013. The barns at the farm were rebuilt on the sites of the original ones according to blueprints Almanzo recreated from memory. There is a small museum gift shop and the Trout River, where Almanzo fished, is across the road. The Wilder Homestead has been named to both the New York State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places.
The New York Library Association is celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2015. For further information, visit www.nyla.org.
