|
|
|
||
|
|
 |
|||||||
 |
Published Jan/Feb 2006 | ||||||
|
The Amana Colonies in eastern Iowa provide a welcome winter retreat and offer cozy lodging, food and shops.
By Jinny R. Danzer |
|||||||
 t the Amana Colonies, 25 miles northwest of Iowa City in eastern Iowa, you can immerse yourself in a fascinating and historic community. Shop for antiques or crafts, savor hearty German and American family style meals, play in a waterpark or see a play.For an overview of the area, drive the historic Amana Colonies Trail that links the villages or purchase an audio drive tour for your car. Either way, it’s easy to explore the seven villages–Amana, East Amana, Middle Amana, High Amana, West Amana, South Amana and Homestead–that are nestled into the rolling Iowa countryside. A bit of background The founders of the Amana Colonies, the Community of True Inspiration, came to the United States to escape religious persecution in Germany. They were inspired both spiritually and practically, and in 1855, purchased what now totals 26,000 acres of fertile land along the Iowa River. The communal society of 1,200 owned land and businesses. They ate in communal kitchens, farmed and ran facilities needed by the community. Each village had a blacksmith shop, an icehouse, a bakery, a winery, a general store and a church. In 1932, the community separated its religious and economic interests and founded a profit-sharing, joint-stock corporation. The Amana Society, Inc. now manages a number of businesses, such as the Amana Woolen Mill, the Little Amana General Store & Woolens, and Amana Furniture and Clocks. Visiting the colonies The seven villages of the original settlement each contain historic buildings like communal kitchens and barns. The villages are attractive with trees and old homes, many of which have grapevine trellises attached to their walls. A restored corncrib in the village of Amana houses a new visitor center that is topped by a cupola. From there, visitors can enjoy views of the town and river valley. Bakeries, meat and cheese shops, craft and art galleries, as well as a microbrewery, occupy and blend in with original buildings. The village of Amana is the most developed, with gift and antique stores, a woolen mill and a clock and furniture shop. The Old Creamery Theatre Company performs April through December. Find out about Amana’s religious history at the Amana Community Church Museum. The Amana Heritage Museum conducts guided walking tours and presents German folk skits. All of the villages have something of interest. The smaller towns provide a chance to get off the beaten path and savor a quiet environment. Visit the church in Homestead or attend a service at the Amana Church in Middle Amana, where early settlers attended services 11 times each week. Museums like the Communal Agricultural Museum in South Amana and the Communal Kitchen and Cooper Shop in Middle Amana show how the community functioned. The Amana Arts Guild Center in High Amana features locally made crafts. For more active pastimes, stroll around Lily Lake on the Kolonieweg Recreation Trail or explore a nature trail. Brave the Barrel Roll waterslide in the new indoor Wasserbahn Waterpark Resort that features a variety of slides and a wading pool. The Amana Colonies Golf Course has 18 holes on 300 acres near Middle Amana. Events to please Events held throughout the year can make a weekend visit really special. January features a Winterfest (Jan. 28); February, a willow-weaving weekend (Feb. 18–19). In May, there’s a doll and toy sale and Maifest, with maypole dancing, entertainment, food and shopping. Garden walks, a polka fest and the Iowa Renaissance Festival–plus a plethora of Christmas activities–also show up on the annual calendar. Nourish and rest Hearty Iowa food forms a big part of the Amana experience. There’s family style dining at the Colony Inn Restaurant and the Ox Yoke Inn in Amana. The Ronneburg Restaurant, also in Amana, serves meals in a historic communal kitchen. Zuber’s Restaurant in Homestead serves meals in the historic hotel once owned by New York Yankee Bill Zuber. The aroma of baking bread and cookies draws visitors into bakeries like the Amana Stone Hearth Bakery in Amana or Hahn’s Hearth Oven Bakery in Middle Amana. Stone Hearth also serves sandwiches. Hahn’s bakery is the only original Amana hearth oven still in operation. The food and drink pallet is filled out by shops like the Amana Meat Shop and Smokehouse, the Chocolate Haus and Sandstone Winery, which sells wine made from whole fruit. Ehrle Brothers Winery and Alma’s Washhouse in Homestead, housed in an original colonies winery, also sells pottery. Sample old-fashioned rhubarb and dandelion wines at some of the wineries. The bed-and-breakfast inns, many in historic homes, are quite reasonably priced compared with many parts of the country. There are large inns or motels in and near the colonies. Pitch a tent or park a recreational vehicle at the colonies’ RV park near Lily Lake. Jinny Ravenscroft Danzer is a contributor from St. Louis, Mo. |
|
||||||
^ to top | previous page |
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
Contents may not be reproduced in whole or in part unless expressly authorized in writing by AAA Traveler Magazines.
Copyright © 1999 - 2007 AAA Traveler Magazine | 12901 N. Forty Dr. | St. Louis, MO 63141 |
|||||||
