Amana, IA - Brats, Bugs and Quilts

We’ve lived in Iowa for a good part of our life and have yet to visit the Amana Colonies. One of our goals for the summer was to tour Iowa like we tour other states and today we chose to visit Amana. We had thought about staying another night in this campground to spend more time in Amana but decided to take the RV into town, park it at the Visitor Center, tour and head home from there. Luckily we did since, had we stayed in Amana another night, we would have had to drive back to Des Moines in the rain.

From the visitor Center, the town is a short 4 - 5 blocks long, 4 blocks deep and full of shoppes. But first, a bit of history. How many of you think that Amana was settled by the Amish like I did? Nope, they are two completely different groups. Amana was founded by the Community of True Inspiration in 1855. This group had come from Europe where they faced persecution and economic depression, landed near Buffalo but expanded so much that they needed more land. Thus they moved to a fertile valley in Iowa and established 6 smaller colonies: Amana, East Amana, South Amana, Middle Amana, High Amana and Homestead.

The Amish on the other hand, also emigrated from Germany with a different religion, different customs and an entirely different history. That both groups established colonies within a hundred miles of each other is purely coincidence.

Each Amana colony was a separate communal group, sharing all property and resources. Men and women were assigned jobs by the village council of brethren. All worked without a wage but were provided with a home, food, medical care, all household necessities and schooling for their children. Farming and agriculture were the primary focuses but all villages need craftsmen and Amana became known for the fine work of their craftsmen.

Here’s an interesting tidbit. They bury people by the day they die, not in family groups. The husband might be at one end of a row and the wife at the other end, depending upon when they died.

I was intrigued by the ‘moving’ days which were designated by the village elders. Since all housing was owned and assigned by the community, whenever a family changed by marriage, death, or childbirth, a new house was needed, whether larger or smaller. Thus, there were ‘moving’ days when many families in the village moved to accomodate all the different needs. Lots of people packed up and moved to a house which suited them better. All on the same day

But all of this you can read elsewhere. Gary and I had perused the map and knew where the village bakery was so made a beeline for it. Here’s Gary looking at his smart phone which has an app to calculate distances walked. He’s wondering how many miles he will need to walk to ‘earn’ that pastry.

Many of the homes are made out of stone but note the intricate placement of each stone in this home. So many small stones, each fitting perfectly. Obviously an example of the exquisite craftsmanship.

We had gotten a coupon from our campground which enabled us to buy a 1-lb package of brats for $1.00. When we got to the Amana Smoke House, we noted that a package of brats cost $4.79, a savings of $3.79 with the coupon. Not only that but we are members of a camping club and only had to pay 1/2 price for the campground. Such a deal. Guess what dinner is tonight?

We spent most of our time in the museum whice we enjoyed immensely. I had about 8 pictures in my camera when Gary pointed our a small out-of-the-way sign which asked us not to take pictures. I should have asked thw docent. Above is one of a true Amana quilt which is actually stitching on a large piece of cloth, rather than many smaller pieces of cloth stitched together. Here’s where women showed their craftswomanship - sewing in the tiniest stitches possible. The museum had a home with original period furniture, an attached shed with original tools and lots of information about the colony, an interesting smaller museum.

However, it is time to go. I reached up to shut our front door with my right hand and shut it on my left thumb which I had wrapped around the door jamb. No picture of this and no recording. Trust me on this - it’s all for the best. Gary put on his ‘Old Dude Driving into the Sun’ glasses and we were off.

I want to demonstrate one thing I learned in the camera class I took at the Rally. I often take pictures out of the front windshield of the RV and - you guessed it - get lots of pictures of bugs since the camera focuses on them. Look at that great bug in the middle of the picture above. Well, now I know how to avoid this and here is almost the same picture using the new technique I learned. Wow, what a difference. The same bug is there in the middle behind the truck but now that isn’t the focus of the picture. I won’t have to delete so many buggy pictures now.

Home late, brats for dinner, showers and to bed. We’ll unpack tomorrow.