Eric's Creates Walnut Grove!

Eric sent us some amazing pictures and a wonderful story about his love for the TV series. Below is Eric's Walnut Grove art and his story! A must read!


"Walnut Grove"	"Early Plum Creek"

"Ingalls home at Plum Creek"



"Oleson's Mercantile in Walnut Grove"










Eric's Story:
"I am 39 and I love "little house" since it first aired in France in December of 1976. I watched it in black and white then... and as there were no VCR at this time, I was angry and mad when it happened that I missed an episode !!! The first seasons aired every year during Christmas holidays, then re-ran on Saturdays afternoons, then it stopped and we had to wait desperately for the continuation. Then in 1986, a new French TV channel decided to air all the not-yet-broadcasted episodes. It started with "the preacher takes a wife", till the very last episode. As I discovered the Ingalls and their adventures, I fell in love with the characters, the plots, the backgrounds... the Ingalls world!! At 13, I started making drawings of the characters and their environment, and a few years later , some small models of the little house. I achieved this during the years, and at one time I had even a replica of Walnut Grove in the basement of my parent's home! As I was never satisfied with my work, I have built up to 3 versions of the little house (the one you see on the pictures above) and 2 of the mercantile. I have also built the school and the sawmill but they were not enough accurate so I didn't keep them. I used -and I still do- to collect every picture or book I could find about "little House" (more especially the show) but in France they were very few. I still love to watch episodes from time to time. As I live now in Quebec, it was more easy to find the original episodes, with the real voices of the actors. It was like watching them for the first time. Of course I would like, if possible in the future, meet some actors of the show. I think that visiting Simi Valley where the show was filmed was really my dream, and now I know it is impossible. But the images, characters and settings created by Michael Landon are in my heart for years and still a source of inspiration.