Fascinating Finds in Mid-America

It's been a week of out-of-the-ordinary towns.

First was Amana Iowa. In the mid 1800's this cluster of seven small villages was established by German Inspirationalists who were looking for freedom to practice their brand of religion and simple lifestyle. They were essentially communists - ! - working to provide for each other with no wages paid and no one owning anything individually. The Inspirationalists prospered by running a woolen mill, shops and factories, including what later became the Amana refrigerator company. The towns are unspoiled to this day - with the original plain wood buildings and charming barns.

Vedic Iowa was next....home of the Maharishi University of Management (same Maharishi who taught the Beatles a thing or two). Like the Inspirationalists, the Maharishi group chose Iowa because there is lots of room to do your own thing with no one bothering you. The community is definitely distinctive. Every building (all fairly new construction) faces east and has a dome on top that resembles a top. An unusual sight.

Bob was excited to see Quincy IL, the namesake of his hometown of Quincy MA and the hometown of Bruce Marshall, the UU minister who married us 22 years ago. Bruce's parents showed us around this charming river town the morning we were there.

Last but not least, we spent a few days in Springfield, Illinois. Springfield isn't as unusual as the other towns, but it does have TWO capitol buildings, the "old" (1853) and the "new" (1877, and currently in use). Springfield's claim to fame is its Lincoln connection. Lincoln's home and the entire block where he lived have been beautifully restored and comprise a national historic site. The Lincoln Museum in downtown Springfield is fantastic - very lively - with recreations of Lincoln's log cabin, the White House and Ford's theatre, lifelike wax figures, a variety of artifacts (I liked Mary Lincoln's dresses), and a very moving video-graphic showing the changing north-south battle lines and borders, and the mounting death toll as the Civil War years progressed. The stats were horrific; in proportion to today's population, it would be the equivalent of 6 million casualties. The Lincoln Museum also included a recreation of Lincoln's law office, showing Lincoln lying on his sofa reading the newspaper while his sons played on the desk and wreaked havoc with everything on it. The scene reminded me of the famous photo of JFK in his office with John Jr. crawling underneath the desk.

Another Springfield attraction that belongs in the unusual category: Shea's Gas Station Museum. This was fun - very kitschy and homegrown. The owner ran the gas station for many years but it has evolved into a random collection of interesting stuff: gas pumps, roadside signs, Route 66 memorabilia, a 50's Airstream motor home, phone booth with rotary dial phone, old vending machines. You name it, it's there, "organized" in disarray.

Happy Halloween from both of us!
Patty