Before the recent advent of J. K. Rowling and Harry Potter, there was another author who became very popular with children, especially young girls. This was Laura Ingalls Wilder, the author of nine novels called the &uot;Little House&uot; books. Also helping to popularize this author and her books based on frontier life in the Upper Midwest was the television program, &uot;Little House On The Prairie,&uot; which ran from September 1974 to March 1983, and in cable channel repeats since then.

Thanks to the books and the very popular television programs starring Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert and other fine actors, many people have become fixated with any locality where Laura Ingalls Wilder ever lived. As a result, several communities have become popular destinations for Wilder and Little House fans, young and old. And several of these communities are fairly close to this area.

One of these communities is Pepin, Wis., located approximately 10 miles north of Wabasha. Laura Elizabeth Ingalls was born in the &uot;Little House in the Woods&uot; (her first book, published in 1932) on Feb. 7, 1867. A log cabin replica is in the Little House Wayside near Pepin.

A map I obtained from the Internet shows that Charles and Caroline Ingalls and their family lived in Keytesville, Mo., during 1868-1869. This north-central Missouri locality is about 20 miles west of Moberly.

The next residence for this wandering family was near Independence, Kan., from 1869 to 1871. One reference says this town is the &uot;official site&uot; of the &uot;Little House on the Prairie&uot; (published in 1935). A replica cabin is in or near this town.

At this point the Ingalls family moved back to the Pepin area from 1871 to 1874. They reportedly crossed the Mississippi River on the ice to move further west.

Then the Ingalls family lived &uot;On the Banks of Plum Creek&uot; (published during 1937) from 1874 to 1876. Their crude frontier home (called the Dugout Site) was near Walnut Grove, the community which has done the most to emphasize its connections with this author.

Walnut Grove is located about 55 miles west of New Ulm on U.S. Highway 14 in Redwood County.

In New Ulm it takes two weekends to observe Heritagefest, best described musically as &uot;Germany in Minnesota.&uot; Over in Walnut Grove it takes three full weekends to present the Wilder Pageant. Incidentally, this is the 26th year for the popular event which is now observing its third and final weekend for 2003.

The Wilder Pageant consists of nine evening performances near the banks of Plum Creek and the original 1874 Ingalls homestead. Other events during the three weekends of the pageant include a parade, three musical performances, visits to the town’s Wilder Museum, and an annual Laura-Nellie Look-A-Like Contest for girls ages 8-12.

In 1876, because of a grasshopper plague, the Ingalls family had to leave their Walnut Grove home and move to Burr Oak, Iowa.

In the next column we’ll feature four more localities which are now part of the present popularity regarding the author of the Little House books who died in 1957. And two of these localities aren’t too far from here.

Meanwhile, I’ve found still another local Lloyd Herfindahl mural which is available for public viewing. It’s located at Halverson Elementary School, 707 E. Tenth St. According to the old &uot;City of Murals&uot; brochure, the title of this long mural on the school’s main hallway is &uot;Alpha Class.&uot; However, I do question this title for this mural featuring young school children. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has more information about this particular mural and how and when it ended up at Halverson.

I do want to firmly stress right here that people wanting to see this Herfindahl mural should check in at the school’s office first.

(Tribune feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears Fridays in the Tribune.)