"well, that's pepin."
There were over 500 people in the town itself, which spread over two miles long by two and one-half mile wide. There was a blacksmith shop, two hotels, and two banks. During the past ten years, building after building had appeared in rapid succession: two churches, a large brick schoolhouse, a machine shop, wagon shop, grist mill, a warehouse, and store after store. The town had a sheriff, surveyor, coroner, judge, and other officials. There was more than one newspaper. There were farmers, carpenters, riverboat pilots, wheelwrights, cabinet makers, teachers, and almost a dozen drygoods merchants. Almost every quarter section in the township had been settled. Many parcels of land had changed hands more than once.

Laura Ingalls saw nothing but trees, rabbits, and deer for seven miles, and when she got to the town, she saw one store, with houses beyond it.

Such are the differences in the historical Pepin, Wisconsin (circa 1870), and the one fictionalized by Laura Ingalls Wilder in Little House in the Big Woods.

Happy Birthday, Laura. Thanks to you, I can almost believe that "there were no roads. There were no people. There were only trees and the wild animals who had their homes among them."
- posted by pioneergirl at 1:59 AM