Today we visited the Amana Colonies. These are the result of a movement started in Germany around 1714 when two men started a belief that a prayerful relationship with the Lord would lead to a Godly life. Due to persecution, taxes etc. they moved to America in 1842 where they purchased 5,000 acres of land in New York, near Buffalo. As the movement grew to over 1,200 members they moved to Iowa and purchased land where they ultimately owned 25,000 acres by 1855.
As time went on and leaders died out, the followers lost interest and by 1932, due to the depression, and drought the communal way of life was abandoned and the members worked for wages, owned their homes etc. The church was preserved however and they prospered.
Many businesses were started including Amana Appliances which is now owned by Whirlpool. They still farm the land, have a large forest reserve and operate a variety of businesses. The villages, there are seven of them, are still viable and the population stays at around 1,800 people,
We enjoyed our visit very much; again learning more about this countries history. Lunch was German food, naturally, and we did some shopping, naturally. Funny how a tour of this kind can take all day.
We returned home and tomorrow will head slowly westward.
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| Just one of many, many homes or businesses. |
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| Shirley loves her flowers. |
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| Kinda a hardware store and gift ship. |
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| When Shirley was a kid her dad painted her bike orange and red. |
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| This was a gift shop, couldn't resist the flowers. |
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| These are real looms, not like those we saw this year operated by a person doing it by hand. |
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| Ya like my new hat? |
See Ya!
Barry and Shirley
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