NFIB

An Inn that's Down to Earth
03/ 25/ 2002

by Kathleen Landis

Stan McCone Built His Business From the Ground Up.

McCone's forbears homesteaded on South Dakota's plains in the 1880s. They reared their families in sod homes called "soddys." A century later, McCone replicated a prairie soddy on his 25-acre Sanborn, Minn., farm. He cut its two-foot thick walls from virgin sod and topped it with a sod-covered wooden roof. He added a prairie dugout, two sod outhouses and a tiny log cabin. For authenticity, McCone restored an adjoining 10 acres of buffalo, Indian and native tall grasses.

Besides tours, McCone and his wife, Virginia, rent their soddy as a bed and breakfast. Don't expect fancy soaps, featherbeds or indoor plumbing. Guests haul cold water for the wash pitcher, use oil lamps and visit the outdoor privy in a true "Little House on the Prairie" experience. So visitors can truly immerse themselves in the historical era, they also offer prairie clothes and bonnets for dress up. Call (507) 723-5138 to book a stay in this little house on the prairie.

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