BlackberryGroveFarm
Apr 2021
As a lifetime fan, this trip down from Michigan to tour Rocky Ridge Farm was our final destination after having visited the museums of DeSmet and Walnut Grove in previous years. I am very glad we came. The new museum housing Laura and Almanzo’s artifacts is absolutely lovely, well designed, clean with a fun gift store with wonderful book title selections. The homes and tour guides were a joy to see in person. I would like to see increased funding to spruce up the grounds a bit immediately around the two homes. The beautiful historic plaques need a thorough cleaning, touch up and restoration. The structures themselves are well maintained. The rolling low mountain woods and pasturelands of the Ozark landscape is hard to beat. We stayed directly across the street, within walking distance, at a small RV campground. What we did not expect was the small, seemingly impoverished town of Mansfield. The campground had full hookups but was otherwise pretty basic and old. I would highly recommend this stop and tour but know that this historic gem sitting in a beautiful natural setting is near a very small, somewhat dilapidated town that has very little happening, so you would want to plan on not more than a one to three day stay here.