In 1932, amidst America’s Great Depression, the Amana colonies voted to end the communal way of life.  They established the Amana Society, Inc., a joint stock, profit-sharing corporation to manage the farmland, the mills and the larger enterprises.  Private enterprise was encouraged and many businesses located in the Amana Colonies today are independently owned and operated.  The Amana Church was maintained and thrives yet today.  And, yes, it’s where Amana Refrigeration was born.  In the late 50’s, one of the Colonists founded Amana and not long afterward, created the Radar Range, the forerunner of microwave ovens - another example of how a free society and free enterprise always win.

On Thursday, we took a drive south on Highway 1 to Kalona, an area that has many Amish and Mennonite residents.  We were a little disappointed in what we found.  It appears as if the town is trying to capitalize on the Amish presence but the Amish are not involved.  The historical village that they advertise offers little information on the Amish way of life but does provide visitors with the opportunity to learn a little about the Mennonite faith.  In fact, one of the buildings in the historical area houses the Iowa Mennonite Museum and Archives.  Our tour guide there, a Mennonite woman, was most helpful in answering our questions and helping us learn more about both religions.

The only building in the historical village that had true Amish roots was a “Grandpa house”, which is traditionally built adjacent to the homeplace and is where the parents move when the youngest son marries and the children take over the farm.  We did see many Amish in town in their horse-drawn buggies but we really didn’t have an opportunity to learn as much about their religious practices as we had hoped. 

We did learn that the Amish dissented from the Mennonite congregation in 1693, mainly because of their disagreement over “shunning”.  Amish shun; Mennonites do not.  Because of religious persecution in Germany, the Amish immigrated to America in 1729, at the invitation of William Penn, the Quaker.  They now have a presence in more than 20 states.  They came to the Kalona area in 1846 and continue to maintain their “society within a society”.  Today, the Kalona area is home to the largest Amish-Mennonite settlement west of the Mississippi.

Because they were not allowed formally trained ministers or church buildings in Europe, they met in members’ homes and continue that practice today.  That’s why you never see Amish churches.  They worship in homes on a rotating basis every other Sunday, alternating with German-language Sunday School.  Although the Amish regularly use English, they speak a German dialect among themselves and use High German for their worship services.  The Mennonites have church buildings and speak only in English.

There are three different types of Amish.  The Old Order, believing in a literal translation of the Bible, oppose anything worldly, living without electricity, telephones, automobiles and the hundreds of other conveniences of the modern world.  It is a life of strict discipline with carefully considered roles for man and woman.  They are a friendly people and we heard a number of reports of their generosity and kindnesses toward their non-Amish neighbors.  The Beachy Amish (named for the man who founded the sect), have church buildings, use automobiles and have electricity and telephones but dress similar to the Old Order with whom they continue to share a number of theological beliefs.  In recent years, a New Order Amish has emerged, best described as a synthesis between the Old Order and the Beachies.  No one could really explain the difference between the Beachies and the New Order so I can’t tell you!

The Amish dress simply, in accordance with their general way of life.  The men wear broadfall trousers and simple shirts.  Every man and boy we saw wore suspenders – I guess so their broadfalls wouldn’t fall!  Once married, the men have a beard but no mustaches are allowed.  Women wear simple long dresses of varying hues, never prints, with a white prayer cap covered with a black bonnet when in town.

The Amish have special dispensation from the state of Iowa to operate their own schools.  Children attend through the eighth grade then go home to work on the farm.  The teachers are not formally trained.

The Amish and the Mennonites, alike, are pacifists.  The Amish won’t even use buttons on their clothing because they think buttons are symbols of the military.   That’s also the reason men can’t have mustaches.  Both groups share an Anabaptist heritage, meaning that they do not christen babies.  Children are baptized upon reaching the age of accountability and upon professing their faith.

We took a drive through the section of the county where most of the Amish live.  We were quite surprised to see no one working in the fields but there were lots of Amish men in town!  Another thing we thought was interesting is that we saw a number of signs hawking “fresh eggs” – that is not an unusual sight in rural Arkansas.  However, the “fresh dressed fryers” was a first for me.  I wonder what they dress them in?  Ha!

On Thursday afternoon, after our visit to Kalona, we packed up and headed north to Dubuque.  We have continued to run from the heat – it is hotter than hell here!  We camped at the American Marine Campground on the Mississippi River.  On Friday, we drove to Dyersville to see the Field of Dreams movie site.  It was a beautiful day with a vivid blue sky and a smattering of clouds – perfect day for a game of baseball.  We were amazed at how many people were there!  There was a youth team playing ball and a number of other visitors pitching and batting around the edge of the field.

We learned that, just prior to filming the movie, there was a terrible drought and they couldn’t get the corn to grow.  So, they dammed a small stream on the property in order to irrigate the corn.  It grew so fast that it was way over Kevin Costner’s head so they had to build a walkway in the field to elevate him as he walked out of the corn.  Over 1 million people have visited the site since the film was released in 1989.  It is still part of the Lansing farm that has been owned by their family since the 1800’s.  You could truly feel what a special place this is.  There is no admission fee.  The family has a souvenir shop on the grounds and that’s how they support the upkeep.  They have been so touched by how people react to the site that they want to keep it open for all to be able to enjoy.  It was absolutely beautiful!

We then visited the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier, built in 1888 and one of only 52 Catholic basilicas in the US.  Because of its designation as a basilica (royal or kingly building), it is often referred to as the “Pope’s church”.  Should the Pope ever visit the area, this is where he would worship.  It is an imposing building with two 212-feet spires.  Gold-leaf crosses atop the spires are 14 feet high.  They hold one mass on Saturday evening and four masses on Sunday and have seating for about 1,000 – all this in a little bitty town of only 4,000 people!  The inside of the church is like nothing I have ever seen in this country.  I can’t imagine that the churches in Europe could surpass it.  The acoustics are amazing.  Jerry was at the very back of the church and I was at the very front and he could hear the click of my camera.  The confessionals are intricately carved wood, we think walnut.  There are 14 incredibly beautiful stained glass windows along the sides, two others behind the altar, and one over the entry doors.  The ceiling appeared to be at least 40 feet high with elaborate designs painted on it.  It truly felt like a holy place.

Obviously, the Catholic and Lutheran faiths are dominant in this part of the world.  There is a sprinkling of Methodist churches but we haven’t seen a Baptist church in days!  Every small community has a beautiful Catholic church.

That afternoon, we visited the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque.  Opened in 2003, it provides a great look at the species that live in and around the river.  Admission is $10 per adult and they offer an audio tour for $1 per person which really helped a lot.  There are a number of displays and tanks that depict conditions from the mouth of the river in Lake Itasca, Minnesota to the swamps and bayous.  One tank had two albino snapping turtles.  We saw several catfish that weighed over 100 pounds and numerous huge alligator gar!  It is estimated that in a ten-mile stretch of the Mississippi, there are as many as one million fish.  I can assure you I’m never setting foot in the Arkansas or Mississippi Rivers after seeing this exhibit.  We learned that alligators can live to be 60 years old.  They have 60-80 teeth and, if they lose one, they grow a new one.  They can have up to 3,000 teeth over their lifetime.

The Mississippi is the third longest river in the world, behind the Nile and the Amazon.  A drop of rain that falls in Lake Itasca, Minnesota takes 90 days to reach the Gulf of Mexico.  There was an exhibit focused on Native Americans who once lived along the river and the explorers who charted the waters.  There were several film presentations focusing on the river, the steamboat and logging eras, and barging.  We also toured the Corps of Engineers’ William M. Black steam-operated dredge barge built in 1934 for $638,000.  It operated from 1934 to 1973 dredging the Missouri River to keep it open to barges and ships.  It was decommissioned in 1973 because it required 7,000 gallons of oil a day to operate it.  The boat required up to 60 crew members as it operated 24 hours a day.

On Saturday, we headed for the McGregor/Marquette area.  I had the bright idea that we’d follow the Old River Road north, along the Mississippi.  Well, after a couple of hours of being totally lost on narrow, worn out old roads with no signage, we decided to get back on Highway 52.  When we reached our destination, we made the trek up a rather steep road to Pike’s Peak State Park.  However, we were very disappointed in it and decided not to stay.  We couldn’t find a campground to our liking on the Iowa side so we crossed the Mississippi and camped in Wisconsin at the Sports Unlimited Campground just outside Prairie du Chien. This was the first time that our trusty Verizon wireless internet card failed us.  No emails that night!

One of the “isms” of our travels has been finding grocery stores along the way.  We went for days in northern Iowa without finding a grocery store.  I’m sure they were there but they were well hidden.

On Sunday, July 16, we visited the Effigy Mounds National Monument, which has preserved 2,500 acres of natural riverside eco-systems plus nearly 200 distinct prehistoric burial mounds, many shaped like birds and animals.  The unusual mounds are traces of the native people who lived along the Mississippi from 1000 B.C. to 1200 A.D.  The terrain features steep hills with lots of deep gullies and huge trees - nothing like you would expect to find in Iowa.

Contrary to what we have learned from movies and television, these Native Americans did not live in teepees and hunt with bows and arrows.  They did not ride horses or cultivate corn.  Their family groups were small and they did not belong to a tribe with a chief as their leader.  They were semi-nomadic, living in small family groups or clans of 25-30 people.  During the summer months, several of these clans would come together and live along the banks of rivers.  They built small rounded shelters made of tree branches and covered with bark (like the one we saw at the Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque).  They used the rivers for food.  In winter months, the clans dispersed and moved into rock shelters or caves found in the limestone bluffs of this area.

We hiked the Fire Point and Twin Views trails, a distance of three miles, past 39 of the mounds, including the Little Bear Mound Group and the Great Bear Mound Group.  The Great Bear is the largest effigy mound in the country.  We learned that from 1000 B.C. until 300 B.C., small conical (round) burial mounds were constructed.  Between 300 B.C. and 400 A.D., more elaborate mounds were built, including linear (elongated) and compound (a combination of conical and linear).  These mounds were not only built for burials, but also for ceremonial purposes.  Finally, from 400 A.D. until 1200 A.D., in addition to the other types of mounds, the effigy (animal shaped) mounds were constructed.

Archeologists have discovered that there were four different types of burials used within the mounds.  “Extended” burials were similar to today’s burials with the dead laying on their back.  “Flex”, a second style of burial, was with the body on its side in a fetal position.  The third type of burial was “cremation” and the fourth burial style was the “bundle” burial.  The fourth type of burial was probably used when they were away from the mound sites, such as in winter.  Human remains were left outdoors until most of the flesh was gone then the bones were bundled together and brought back to be buried in one of the mounds.

The Effigy mounds (those in the shape of animals) were seldom used for burials and therefore probably had some other symbolic or ceremonial purpose.  They may have been clan symbols, monuments or totems to animal spirits, or territorial markers.  Often, fire pits were found in the head or heart region of the effigy, suggesting that they may have been altars used during funeral rites.  Occasionally, an effigy mound was used as a burial place for one or two people – they typically were buried in the effigy’s heart, brain or flank area and it is assumed that these individuals were important civil or religious leaders the group wanted to honor.

We learned much about how the Native Americans used the natural world to their advantage.  Animals were not only hunted for food but the skins were used for clothing and the bones were used for tools.  Plants were eaten and used for medicine.  Stones were used for tools and weapons, especially chert, which is found in veins in limestone.  Chert is a type of flint and was the primary stone used by prehistoric people in making spear points and everyday tools.  They had vast trade networks, with artifacts found from Michigan, North Carolina, the Gulf of Mexico and Wyoming.  One of the most valuable items they had to trade were freshwater pearls found in the Mississippi River.  There is much mystery about how they traded for goods in such far away places.

It was a beautiful hike through a great stand of northern red oak, white oak, shagbark hickory (Jerry’s favorite), bitternut hickory, chinquapin oaks, maple and white ash.  Jerry noted that, in later years, shagbark hickory was used to make bows, because it was very strong and elastic.  We learned a lot about what this country must have been like in prehistoric times.  Though it was extremely warm, once we were on top of the bluffs, there was a delightful breeze that cooled us.

After our hike, we were famished, so we headed back into McGregor (which we thought was a bustling little town).  The only thing we could find open was the Pocket City Pub so we went in.  We noticed right away that there were few tables but lots of barstools, several of them occupied.  I asked the bartender if they served food and he replied that they did not.  Then, one of the guys at the bar laughed and said “There’s a pork chop in every can!”  That was a classic.

Tomorrow, we cross the Minnesota state line.