It is hard to imagine living in a group environment. That though is just what they did in the Amana Colonies. The Amana Colonies are seven villages. Located on 26,000 acres the colonies are in east-central Iowa. In these communal villages, the colonists all dined together. They ate food cooked in a communal kitchen. I […]
This past Friday night, we were invited to stay at the Village Guest Suites in Amana, Iowa. (This stay was paid for by the Amana Colonies Visitor’s Bureau.) Owned by Virginia and Alan Dubberke this beautiful building is located in Main Amana on a back street. Virginia greeted us wearing a mask and showed us […]
There is fun to be had in downtown Decatur! The last few blogs I have written have profiled stops I visited in Decatur, Illinois. My friend Annie Jansen and I get together once a month or so and we play tourists in central, Illinois. During July we choose Decatur and toured the James Millikin Homestead, […]
Growing up in Mattoon, Illinois before moving to Pawnee, Decatur and A.E. Staley was always something I knew. Soybeans were just part of life in central Illinois. The growing, the processing and the knowledge that they helped make the world go round were paramount to life in this neck of the woods. Visiting the Staley […]
While visiting Decatur, Illinois last week, one of the stops that Annie Jansen and I made was the amazing Hieronymus Mueller Museum. Anyone will like this museum. It tells the family story and the manufacturing outline of Hieronymus Mueller and his company. The doors are a piece of art welcoming you in. And, if there […]