Homegrown: Prairie Walks and Laura Ingalls Wilder

If you're making plans for Labor Day, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum in West Branch offers interesting options.

Here is more from the museum:

The Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum is hosting a very special event on Monday, September 3, 2012. Sarah Uthoff will be performing her Laura Ingalls Wilder program at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. and the Hoover National Historic Site will be giving guided Prairie Walks at 9:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., there is no charge for these events.

Be transported back in time to 1931 when Laura Ingalls Wilder is trying to decide whether it's worth reworking her first book to submit it to the publishers one last time. Utoff, in costume as Laura Ingalls Wilder, will share her life story. Using photos she will show you the various places where Laura lived before asking the audience the important question, should she submit the book this one last time? Following the presentation you can ask those pressing questions that you've always had about Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Sarah Uthoff is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and director of the Oxford Public Library. Uthoff is a respected authority on Laura Ingalls Wilder's life, a contributing editor to the Laura Ingalls Wilder newsletter “The Homesteader,” and is currently Vice-President of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association which hosts a national Laura Ingalls Wilder conference every two years. She is also the host of the Trundlebed Tales podcast which is dedicated to Laura Ingalls Wilder and related topics.. To learn more about Uthoff or her quest for letters visit http://www.trundlebedtales.com

The show will be fun for both children and adults and everyone is encouraged to wear period clothing!

Ranger-guided walks of the 81-acre tallgrass prairie will start at 9:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Meet at the Tallgrass Prairie Observation Deck by the Gravesite parking lot.

A park ranger will discuss how and why the National Park Service is reconstructing this endangered habitat as part of the landscape commemorating Herbert Hoover's life. The walk is less than a mile and lasts 60 to 90 minutes.

The Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum and Hoover National Historic Site are located in West Branch, Iowa just ¼ mile off Interstate 80 at exit 254. Admission to the Laura Ingalls Wilder program and the Prairie Walks is free, regular admission fees will be charged to go through the museum. Hours are 9 am – 5 pm daily. For more information call 310-643-5301 or visit the website at

www.hoover.archives.gov.