Where Was Little House On The Prairie Filmed? Every Major Location Explained

There are a handful of book series that are geared towards girls and young women that have managed to really stand the test of time, like the always-fun "The Baby-Sitters Club," and one of the great classics, "Little House on the Prairie." The semi-autobiographical novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder followed her family as they made their lives on a tiny farmstead near Plum Creek and the town of Walnut Grove, Minnesota, from the 1870s through the 1890s. The beloved novels were turned into a TV movie and then a television series by NBC, starring Michael Landon as patriarch Charles Ingalls, Karen Grassle as his wife Caroline, Melissa Gilbert as middle daughter Laura, Melissa Sue Anderson as Laura's older sister Mary, and twins Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush as younger sister Carrie Ingalls. The series ran for nine seasons, from 1974 through 1983, giving audiences nearly a decade to get to know the Ingalls family and the people of Walnut Grove. 

In that time, the locations of "Little House," like the house, farmland, and Walnut Grove, all became as comforting to audiences as the characters themselves, giving viewers a taste of life on the prairie. The only thing is that none of the series was filmed in Minnesota ... in fact, it was almost entirely Southern California. 

The inside of the little house that the Ingalls family lives in is pretty cozy, with rough-hewn charm that makes it seem kind of lovely to occupy, if only it had electricity and running water. (It would also be a little cramped with a large family, but the Ingalls seem to make it work!) Based loosely on descriptions of the house from the novels, the house was actually a series of sets. Initially the sets, including a reproduction of the exterior of the house used in location shots, were located on two Paramount soundstages, but after season 5, they moved to the MGM lot and the studio's largest soundstage, where everything could be housed together.

The reproduction exterior house was only for limited use, thankfully, as there was a much better option less than an hour's drive away. The cast and crew of "Little House on the Prairie" got a lot of fresh air filming farm and town scenes, which were shot in Simi Valley, California. 

The Ingalls family farm and the town of Walnut Grove were built at Big Sky Movie Ranch in Simi Valley, California. While it took quite a bit of work to try to make Southern California look like Minnesota, the team did a pretty decent job and the little town feels somewhat authentic. 

Big Sky Movie Ranch is a massive filming location with over 7,000 acres of rolling hills, old western sets, and much more, and quite a few movies and television shows have been filmed there over the years. "Men in Black," "Coming to America," parts of David Lynch's enigmatic series "Twin Peaks," the first "Transformers" film, and the classic western series "Gunsmoke" were all filmed at Big Sky Ranch. Modern fans who want to see the "Little House" set are out of luck, however, because while the beautiful landscapes are still available to view at Big Sky, the sets themselves were destroyed rather spectacularly long ago. Speaking of which...

When it came time for "Little House" to end, it meant the end of the set of Walnut Grove, too. Landon not only starred as the show's father figure, but also wrote and directed the series finale, and he wrote a story in which the townsfolk decide to destroy the town rather than let it fall into the hands of evil robber-barons. When the townsfolk in the show blew up their homes and shops, those explosions were real and the sets were completely decimated. In an interview with The New York Times, Landon explained that there was a requirement for the land to be returned to the way it was before the studio leased it, meaning the buildings had to go, and that he felt like his solution was the right one: 

"I think it makes for a good strong pioneer ending. It was also a nice catharsis for the cast and crew. There were lots of tears when we finally blew up the town. The actors had all become very attached to their own buildings, so it was very emotional."

The end of a TV series has to be tough, and saying goodbye to your workplace knowing you truly can never go back again is sure to cause some tears. (Although it could have been worse — the cast of "M*A*S*H" didn't really even get to say goodbye before a fire destroyed their finale set.) 

There was an attempt to bring back the fictional Walnut Grove, however. The folks at Big Sky Ranch later built a full replica of the town and the Ingalls' family farm for tourists to visit, but those sets were unfortunately destroyed in a fire in 2003. 

While Simi Valley and the Big Sky Ranch were great for the tiny town of Walnut Grove and the family farm, the show's creators needed something a little different for the nearby town of Mankato, which was the closest taste of civilization on the prairie. For the much more established, bigger town, sets at Old Tucson film ranch in Tucson, Arizona were used. Old Tuscon has been the setting for hundreds of films and television shows, including "Three Amigos" and the all-timer Western classic, "Tombstone," and eagle-eyed viewers can probably pick out sets used on "Little House" that also showed up in some of these other shows and movies. 

Fans who want to visit the sets might be in luck, as Old Tucson does allow visitors and has tours of some of the great old sets, though what's available varies from season to season.