Fun Finds in Fairfield, Iowa!

Fairfield, Iowa is a Midwestern town with a lot of fun finds and facts! I traveled on a hosted trip to Fairfield with a group of Midwest Travel Network bloggers. During the visit, I discovered unique stories and things to see and do. Try a scavenger hunt around the town and surrounding area to locate these fun finds! Thank you, Terry Baker, and Visit Fairfield, for having us.

Are you ready to see where to go and what to do off the beaten path? Ready set let’s go!

1. A Cidery!

While in many places you find breweries and wineries, how often do you find a Cider House? At Fishback & Stephenson Cider House, they were awarded Iowa Cider Producer of the Year three years in a row, 2020, 2021, and 2022. They also offer amazing burgers! My favorite cider was the Apricot Cider!

2. Art fun finds.

In the mural above there are stories within stories. Terry Baker said the painting above the children includes Lee. T. Gobble. He was known as Mr. Fairfield. There is a statue of the famous man outside the Fairfield Art Association.

3. Historic Marker!

The name of the town is attributed to one of first settlers to the area, Nancy Bonnifield. She saw fair fields when looking at the new land. The name stuck!

A historical fact about Fairfield is it was the site of the first Iowa State Fair in 1854. On the square is a marker sharing the great covered wagon caravan for the Centennial of this event in 1954.

4. Mahrishi Vedic observatory.

In the experimental town of Vedic City is the Maharishi Vedic observatory. Part of the Maharshi International University located in Fairfield. The observatory is comprised of sundial-like instruments which measure the Sun. They count the hours of the day, reflecting the Sun’s movement across the sky and displaying its relationship with all life on Earth. We stopped to visit this interesting site. They even offer a course in this and say the purpose of the “this ancient Vedic technology is to align one’s vision with the orderly setup of cosmic performance from wherever one is on Earth. In this way, the Maharishi Vedic Observatory allows one to gain the benefit of Nature’s Intelligence—a life lived in accord with all the Laws of Nature.”

Parson’s University had first been in Fairfield, when they closed, the University was purchased and taken over by the Maharishi International University.

5. The Ann Rutledge Connection.

Jake Schmidt, assistant director of the Carnegie Museum directed us through the Carnegie Museum history tour. He shared a wonderful story about their Ann Rutledge connection. This fascinated me. Living in the Land of Lincoln, Honest Abe’s love of Ann Rutledge in New Salem before ever meeting Mary is a tragic Hallmark story. Abraham Lincoln came to New Salem in 1831. Part of the history there is his job as clerk in Offutt’s store. He was appointed postmaster of New Salem in 1833. While living there, the somewhat disputed story goes that he and Ann fell deeply in love.

The spinning wheel belonging to Ann Rutlege’s mother, Maryann Rutledge is on display at the Carnegie Museum. Jake explained that this was brought to Van Buren County when the family migrated to Iowa in 1837. Mary Ann left New Salem after her husband and daughter died in a typhoid epidemic which struck New Salem in 1835. She moved closer to family with her other six children three miles northwest of Birmingham, Iowa. Mary Ann Rutledge died in 1878 at the age of 91. She and a son, John, are buried in Bethel Methodist cemetery near the family homestead.

6. Fairfield light tower!

Jake Schmidt, and Terry Baker both shared the fascinating story of the Fairfield Light Tower. It was one of the nation’s first municipal electric streetlights. Erected in Fairfield’s Central Park in 1882, it was only a couple of weeks after installation of Thomas Edison’s experimental electric streetlamps in New York City. The tower produced light for up to 40 miles! Sadly, though migrating birds would become disoriented and fly into the tower. Museum Director, artist Mark Shafer, painted the picture and said in a YouTube video that the local birdwatchers did benefit because they could study those birds that landed at the bottom of the tower. Terry added that cats would come calling as well!

The tower was dismantled in 1910. The exhibit at the museum includes a display of birds that came to their demise from this fascinating light tower that once shined in Fairfield!

There is much more to see and do in Fairfield, but this provides a few facts and stops that you might not otherwise learn about!