Pepin, Wisconsin in the Past

Pepin, Wisconsin in the Past

This was the Ingalls Little House in the Big Woods. This is where the “sugaring off” and the honey and syrup making took place. It was also in Pepin where Laura received her rag doll, Charlotte, from Santa, and where she lived in an attic loft with Mary. They had lots of fun in the attic, playing among the pumpkin and squash, and other wonderful foods hanging from the ceiling.

Pepin and Lake Pepin were names after the Pepin brothers, who were the first two French trappers in the area. The village was settled in 1846. Pepin was first well known as a steamboat boomtown familiar to the likes of Mark Twain and wealthy Chicago socialites who summered on the lake.

Laura visited the town of Pepin during the book Little House in the Big Woods, describing both the town and the lake in detail.  Fans will remember Laura collecting so many pretty pebbles on the shores of Lake Pepin that her pocket tore.