Aug 7, 2012 - A Look At The Amana Colonies Of Today

From Amana Colonies RV Park – Amana, IA Today the villages of the Amana Colonies represent an American dream come true………a thriving community founded by religious faith and community spirit. Here in the Amana Colonies of today those that visit enjoy a place where the past is cherished. This past is shared with visitors in seven museums which are contained in original colony structures depicting the communal era and telling the story of Old Amana. In addition over 450 communal era buildings stand in the Colony villages….vivid reminders of...

Aug 3, 2012 - Amana, Iowa

We always enjoy this little quaint place - The Amana Colonies. One of the fun things was when Ted and Betty pulled in (see earlier post), it is such a joy to see friends along the road. We enjoyed some time with Dean, Ken's brother-in-law, and Lari and Dean's son Keith and his wife Patti. (another earlier post) We also enjoyed a visit from Ken's sister, Bea and her son Dan, who is in from Vail, Colorado. The Amana Colonies has delicious cheeses and wines and meats and fudges - believe us when we say we enjoyed them all. The one thing they...

Jul 26, 2012 - Park Happenings Between Amana Colony Sightseeing

From Amana Colonies RV Park – Amana, IA Amongst our trips into the Colonies to sightsee and learn about their history there have also been happenings here at the RV Park. Just the day after our arrival the park began to fill with rigs arriving to participate in a “Fly Ball Competition”. Owners and dogs soon filled a large section of the sites close to one of the large community buildings in the park. We had experienced this competition at a couple of Dog Shows we attended in Houston and really enjoyed watching the races. It is amazing how...

Jul 23, 2012 - Enterprises & Craftsmen Of Amana Colony

From Amana Colonies RV Park – Amana, IA The Amanians were able to achieve their independence and communal lifestyle by adhering to the specialized handcrafts and farming occupations brought by them from Germany. Master craftsmen passed on from one generation to the next the knowledge, techniques and skills of the artisan iron and copper smiths, wood wrights and weavers. They used hand, horse, wind and water power to produce everything they felt was needed for a good and honest life. The Amana Colonies were built on tradition and quality by...

Jul 18, 2012 - Daily Life, Religion and Death In The Amana Colonies

From Amana Colonies RV Park – Amana, IA If you lived in Amana from 1855 to 1932 you were part of a communal community and you lived by the rules. Amana’s communal organization was defined by its constitution and bylaws filed with the State of Iowa in 1859. This eight article document signed by all members of the community detailed the principles upon which the communal community would be structured. The rules fell basically into two categories………..ones upholding Godly behavior drawn from the Bible and ones that upheld the communal culture....

Jul 18, 2012 - Travel day - Amana, Iowa

This was a travel day from ... well you know. After leaving the worse park yet in our summer travels we was excited about getting to a better park. The roads was fine, no winds and no rain but when we arrived to our planned destination that is when things went from wonderful to bad to "can it get any worse than this?" We arrived and well it wasn't a great park but would work for a couple of days for our sightseeing and Ken's reminiscing - see we was only about 6 miles from where Ken was born. So we unhooked the car, got level and totally...

Jul 16, 2012 - Learning The History Of Amana Colonies

From Amana Colonies RV Park – Amana, IA Decided to begin our exploration of this National Historic Landmark located in the Iowa River Valley known as the Amana Colonies. The seven colonies or villages today hold the history and tell the story of one of America’s longest lived communal societies. The history of these colonies began in Germany in 1714. During the turbulent 18th century Germany was in the midst of a religious movement called Pietism. This movement advocated faith renewal through reflection, prayer and Bible study and belief...

Jul 12, 2012 - Iowa - Our New Home For The Next Month

From Amana Colonies RV Park – Amana, Iowa Still chasing those cooler temps…….today we moved 301 miles from Missouri into Iowa and hope we will see at least low 90’s high 80’s while here instead of the triple digits we just experienced in Independence. Our plans are to stay here a month and from our haul of information from the Iowa Welcome Center I think we are going to have lots to see and do. Our home base location gives us a wonderful chance to visit the historical Amana Colonies but is also close to two larger cities……Iowa City and...

Oct 13, 2011 - Amana, Iowa

We finished up at HWH around 1100 and we drove all of about 48 miles from Moscow, Iowa to Amana Iowa. We are both so exhausted from the past three days of driving and in addition to fighting our colds we are spending the remainder of today in the campground in Amana and sequestering our selves inside the motorhome. Tomorrow morning we will very likely get a late start and then drive to Des Moines where will spend the weekend visiting our friends. Last night was spent at the HWH campground at the factory and we had a thunderstorm display...

Aug 23, 2011 - Amana Colonies. Great Place to Visit

August 22 2011 Amana Colonies Nancy and I have always heard that Amana was a great place to have a RV Rally, a great place to visit, so this trip we decided to visit the area. Below is a short overview of Amana, but to get the real story you need to do your own research and even visit the area. The people are very friendly, the shops are fair, friendly, and all the people try to make you feel welcome. Amana is well worth the visit. When you walk down the street of any one of the seven Amana Villages you can see by the shape of the...

Aug 4, 2011 - Amana Colonies, Iowa

Arrived here at the Amana Colonies RV Park about 12:30 pm, pretty uneventful trip, were all settle in now all hooked up and good phone and Internet access. Turned on the news and saw the DOW crash - what a mess. Social hour at 5:00 PM with drinks provided by the American Coach chapter that's putting on the Pre-Rally before we all head to Madison Wisconsin for the big FMCA Rally. We will be here for 4 days and the Fleetwood service team is here as well and I can get free labour to fix the engine brake that's not functioning on "low". more...

Aug 2, 2011 - Travel day - Amana, Iowa

A good travel day into the Amana Colonies ..... from Newton, Iowa (Newton KOA) to Amana, Iowa (Amana RV Park). But before we talk about the colonies we will tell you about our time in Newton. Our first day in Newton of course we got our Maid Rite fix. Maid Rites and a chocolate shake we was happy campers. We was able to spend time with Ken's sister Bea and his nephew, Dell. Enjoyed visiting with them at the park and then off to dinner at the Newton Family Restaurant, you can always count on having good food there. We was also able to spend...