‘Little House’ Destruction Left Melissa Gilbert Heartbroken—But 2 Walnut Grove Buildings Left Standing Became ‘Symbol of Hope’
Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert was heartbroken the fateful day the Walnut Grove set of the beloved NBC TV series was blown to bits. However, two buildings stood tall in the rubble, becoming a “symbol of hope” for the cast and crew.
Melissa Gilbert talks about the 2 buildings spared in Walnut Grove’s destruction
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert discussed the fateful day the show’s Walnut Grove set was destroyed. She revealed two buildings were spared and shared the heartbreaking reason why they remained.
Gilbert said, “There was a conscious decision made not to blow up the church because that’s so symbolic of hatred. That was a sacred building for the entire Walnut Grove community on the show and off the show. I think that it was a very wise decision not to blow that up.”
She continued, “And the little house — Stan Ivar, who played John Carter, disassembled it piece by piece and has had it in storage forever.”
Gilbert concluded, “I think the [house] itself was sort of this symbol of hope for the Ingalls family. And continued to stand as a sort of symbol of hope for everybody else. Though we are leaving, we can always rebuild, which is what the Ingalls family always did.”
Why was the Walnut Grove set blown up at the end of ‘Little House on the Prairie’?
In Little House on the Prairie’s final episode, titled “The Last Farewell”, the townspeople of Walnut Grove destroy their town to protest a robber baron who bought up the land. Michael Landon wrote and directed the episode, and incorporated the contractual obligation to destroy the sets into the story. This plot twist was not found in the series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Gilbert told EW that Landon wanted to “demolish everything” on the set because NBC never told him the series was canceled. This news was a slap in the face to the longtime network actor, who previously starred in Bonanza.
Gilbert felt the cancelation was a “disrespectful thing” to do to Landon. On the flip side, she claimed that from the time she learned about Walnut Grove’s fate to the last day of filming was “the longest funeral I’d ever attended.”
Did Melissa Gilbert keep anything from the Walnut Grove set of ‘Little House on the Prairie’?
For 10 years, Melissa Gilbert grew up on the fictional Walnut Grove set of Little House on the Prairie. She was 9 years old when the series began in 1974 and 18 when it ended in 1983. When filming ended, Gilbert took several things from the Walnut Grove set as a remembrance.
Gilbert told EW she has her call sheet from her screen test and her very first script from the pilot with her dialogue underlined in crayon. Her audition scenes are taped on a card and paper-clipped to it.
“I had the little red dress from the opening and closing credits, which my mom had framed for me,” Gilbert explained. The remainder of her memorabilia was auctioned off in 2019.
Little House: The Last Farewell is streaming now on Peacock. Netflix recently announced a reboot of the series, for a release date yet to be determined.
