Welcome!

Our village is known around the world as the birthplace of famous children's author Laura Ingalls Wilder whose first book, Little House in the Big Woods, described her time here. Our village is located on Lake Pepin, the widest and, many say, most beautiful spot on the Mississippi River. We are all that; but so much more. Spend a little time on our website and we think you might be tempted to take a drive to visit us. We're located on the historic Great River Road.

Our village and Lake Pepin take their name from the Pepin brothers, two of the first French trappers in the area. The village was settled in 1846, and was initially known as a steamboat boom-town familiar to Mark Twain and wealthy Chicago socialites who summered on the lake.

Formed by the delta of Wisconsin's Chippewa River, Lake Pepin is a 28-mile-long, three-mile-wide natural waterway that is part of the mighty Mississippi.

Pepin is located 70 miles south of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, 50 miles northeast of Rochester, 60 miles north of LaCrosse and 45 miles southwest of Eau Claire. We have a marina that is home to over 150 boats, with transient docking for our visitors arriving on the water.