The colonies are comprised of seven town founded in the middle 1800's by German immigrants fleeing both religious persecution and a very bad economy. They chose Iowa for the rich farmlands where they formed a communal society which flourished even through the depression. The community farmed, raised sheep, had a woolen mill and made bricks. There were 50 communal kitchens in the seven towns where the citizens were fed and looked after.
The towns are small, a few streets long, and the houses are very well preserved. The town are close together as they planned to be close enough to travel by ox cart within an hour. I had lunch at a cute little restaurant, I thought I was back in Germany. Schnitzel, applesauce and beets, yum.
Lots of little shops to poke around in and little museums to satisfy my history quest.
The bike ride in was really nice, just a short stretch on a two lane road then the bike path. It was about four very pleasant miles over. I rode the perimeter of Lily Lake, so named because you can't see the water for the water lilies! Much of the path was tree shaded and crossed several times a waterway the colonists constructed to create waterpower for the woolen mill. Rounding a corner in the path I found myself at the abandoned train station and just down from there the mill.
Since I've been weaving lately I was really interested in the mill, but it was disappointing. The weaving was done on Swiss machines installed in the 80's, 1980's, and was commercial grade. Oh well.
I spent several hours wandering around there before I headed back to the RV park where I found a wood working show going on adjacent to the park. Teddy and I wandered over there and watched some of the demonstrations. I love the lathe, wish I knew someone who had one and would teach me to use it!
The evening has brought a cool breeze with a lot more units moving in for the weekend. Our five acres of having no one near us has ended, but this has been a really enjoyable two days.
Not too many pictures but I'll put up what I took. We leave tomorrow for Madison and if Luanne's dentist released her on to Northern Wisconsin Sunday. If not, stay tuned because I'm not sure just which direction Saffire will be headed!
As I was waiting for the pictures to load my beer bottle started whistling! The wind is up and it must have been just right, sounded like a barge going down the river!!!
Your blog is in reverse of mine. I see you did have a nice bike ride. I love riding in farmland, too. It's not a lot of work and there's so much of interest to see.
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