Bachelor's Road House: Amana Colonies RV Park

We set out from Wisconsin this morning, and arrived in Iowa this afternoon. We took a slight detour along the way to visit a place we've both been wanting to see... The Field of Dreams. So cool!

It was really interesting. No signs along the highway advertise it. This sign is just right in front of the farm. There is no admission charge, although I think they do pretty well selling souvenirs. Nearly every person was leaving with a t-shirt. You're welcome to take pictures all over, play catch with your kids on the field, wander into the corn field... You just can't go into the house, because people still live there.

When the movie was made and the field carved out, left field was actually on the neighbors' farm. When filming finished, the neighbors turned their portion back to farmland, but only for a year. Then they carved out the left field again. I'm sure there was a lot of pressure from the public to restore the whole field! At one time, there were two entrances to the field, one from each farm. Eventually, the family with the house and the rest of the field bought the neighbors' land, and then the whole farm sold in 2011.

A few pics around the field.

Once we left there, it was about another hour and a half to the Amana Colonies, where we are staying tonight. This place is a little more populated than any of the recent places we've been.

Nobody right close to us, though, so that's good.

The Amana colonies were established by German immigrants who had left Germany and originally settled near Buffalo NY. Eventually they needed more land, and moved west to Iowa, in 1855. There are 7 different colonies. The land for the last village was purchased specifically for its access to the railroad. The Amana colonies are the originators of Amana appliances, and now there is a huge Whirlpool plant on the site by the railroad.

The original Amana colony residents lived a communal life, and were pretty self-sufficient. They were (and are still) well known for their crafts, food, wine, and brews. During the depression they gave up their communal ways, as they could see they were losing residents, especially the young people. They seem like the Amish at first, because they were a religious community, but the Amanas are fully into technology and the 21st century.

At the RV park, we were told that church services are still held as they always have, with women and children sitting on one side, and men on the other, although the young people of the community are pushing to change that. They hold one service in German, and another in English.

We did a little wandering around in town, and poked into a few shops, but we're pretty beat, having traveled for 3 days in a row, with two more to go. We're just going to enjoy the peacefulness of the RV park for the rest of the evening.

Here's some pictures of our wandering around town. Love the architecture!