Author Edna Ferber based the character of the Widow Paarlenburg on the real life Antje Paarlberg. The Paarlberg house and farm is now the Paarlberg Historical Farm and Museum in South Holland, Illinois, a suburb near the southern border of Chicago.
Tommy Rettig and Jon Provost both portrayed the young Dirk, aged 8 and 2 respectively. They also played Lassie's young master in Lassie (1954), Rettig from 1954 to 1957 and Provost from 1957 to 1964.