We visited the Prairie Homestead a few years ago when my mom came down from Beulah, North Dakota. It was very interesting to see how settler’s lived on the South Dakota prairie over 100 years ago. After the tour you feel very appreciative of the modern conveniences we have today, that is for sure! Watch out for the roaming chickens, my wife held out her hand and a hen latched onto her finger probably thinking it was going to get fed.
History
The Prairie Homestead, an original sod home of Mr. & Mrs. Ed Brown, was built in 1909. It is typical of the homes and outbuildings that pioneers built.
This home is one of the last remaining original sod homes intact today. These pioneers played a very important part in settling the Great Plains.
This area of South Dakota was one of the last places to be homesteaded. Visual memories of homestead days are fast becoming extinct. These sod dugouts and shanties were common throughout the prairie. Almost all have disappeared, melted away by the prairie rains, caved in and returned to the earth from which they came.
