Home Care In South Amana, IA

The Amana Colonies Historical Sites Foundation has received a $131,500 grant from the national Save America's Treasures program for the continued restoration of the Upper South Hotel in South Amana.

'This is very exciting news for the Amana Sites Foundation and for the Amana Colonies as a whole,” said Laura Hoover, director of the foundation, in a news release. 'While the strength of the Amana Colonies lies in the completeness of the whole, the Upper South Hotel stands out for both its size and its function in the colonies.”

The hotel was built in 1884 to serve passengers of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, which operated a depot just south of the hotel. Passengers ranging from businessmen to tourists and Hawkeye fans stayed at the hotel through the years, bringing the outside world to the communal colonies.

'In many ways, the Upper South Hotel was the front door to the Amana Colonies,” Hoover said.

The grant is part of $12.6 million in Save America's Treasures grants announced this month by the National Park Service to assist 41 historic properties and collections in 23 states. The park service awarded the grants in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Amana Colonies Historical Sites Foundation is in the midst of a project to mitigate damage to the Upper South Hotel following years of neglect by a former private owner. The site had fallen into disrepair, with no roof, broken and rotting windows, and brick damage from overgrown vegetation. Fifty-four historic windows are being restored, and damaged bricks and mortar are being repaired on the exterior.

The first phase of the project, funded in part by a grant from the State Historical Society of Iowa, focused on replacing the roof. Future phases will focus on the interior spaces, grounds and auxiliary buildings.

'This is a project that the Amana Colonies Historical Sites Foundation took on at the urging of the local community,” Hoover said. '... To have the National Park Service's support in this effort is invaluable.”

The Save America's Treasures program was established in 1998 with the goal of preserving nationally significant historic properties and museum collections for future generations of Americans.

From 1999 to 2017, more than 1,300 projects received $328 million for preservation and conservation work. Requiring a dollar-for-dollar private match, these grants leveraged more than $377 million in private investment and contributed more than 16,000 jobs to local and state economies.

For more information about the Save America's Treasures program, visit http://go.nps.gov/sat.

State Archaeologist and volunteers dig up evidence linking Meskwaki with early traders

Links in this article are preserved for historical purposes, but the destination sources may have changed.

Monday, May 14, 2012

What do you call six or eight people lying flat on the ground with their heads in a small hole in a big farm field?

In this case, very dedicated volunteer archaeologists having a good time while also making a significant contribution to our understanding of Meskwaki life around 1840.

Sixty volunteers helped out with a 10-day dig this past March and April on the Amana Society farmland just outside of South Amana. They came from as far away as Minneapolis and St. Louis, but also from much closer to home, including a retiree from the Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA) at the University of Iowa, which coordinated the dig.

Julie Hoyer of North Liberty recently retired after many years as a librarian and archivist for the OSA. She was excited about the opportunity to get her hands in the dirt.

“In the screen I was working with, we found an 1835 coin,” she says. “I also found a nice, multi-colored cylindrical bead. I would do it again in a minute. It’s enjoyable!”

Jim Mallory, a retiree from Riverside, echoed that assessment. “I’ve always been interested in archaeology and geology,” he says. “It’s just avocational, but it’s fun.” Mallory found two-thirds of a pipe that may have originated in Ohio and a green, faceted bead.

Cindy Peterson, a research specialist with the OSA who coordinated the dig, was not surprised by the reaction of the volunteers. “You almost get a scream of delight when they find things,” she says with a smile.

The small finds that bring delight to volunteers contribute to the larger picture, Peterson quickly adds. “We’ve discovered that a good portion of what was known as the Patterson Trading Post is intact even though this field has been plowed since the 1850s,” she notes.

“By studying the trading post, we were also able to identify the adjacent Meskwaki village, thanks to an 1850s story handed down in the family of Amana Colonist Ewald Leichsenring,” Peterson adds. One of his great-granddaughters, Ramona Gerard of Amana, told how Ewald stood on a prominent hill and could see the Meskwaki village in the distance to the north. Peterson and her volunteers went to that spot and found archaeological traces of the village.

This is OSA’s second venture into Iowa byways. The first identified cultural and historical resources and a management plan for the Loess Hills Scenic Byway along Iowa’s western border.

How did they find the trading post in a field of hundreds of acres?

First, they went to the approximate area of a “Trading House” cabin drawn on an 1843 map. There, the workers divided a section of the field into 55 grids each 10 meters square. Next, they collected surface artifacts and counted which grids had the most. The high-count grids were revisited with metal detectors. One of those grids had more than 190 hits, and that’s where the group drilled their first auger holes.

The process worked beautifully. Not only did the diggers find dozens of small items, they also located the trading post’s ash pit, another 3-foot deep pit, and a root cellar.

The Patterson Trading Post site is only the third such trading post discovered in Iowa, Peterson adds. The discoveries on this particular site provide new information about what the Meskwaki and the traders were exchanging.

That information is treasured not only by the OSA professionals, their volunteers, and the archaeological community—it’s also of great moment to Peter Hoehnle, coordinator of the Iowa Valley Scenic Byway and the executive director of the Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development Council, based in Amana.

His organization and the OSA have worked together to create a new management plan for the byway, which follows the Iowa River and stretches from Montour on the west to the Amana Colonies on the east. That plan will guide the marketing of the area as a tourist destination, but it also addresses issues of conservation of resources. And it has done so with many a community meeting to ensure that the people who live in the byway have been consulted about what is important to them, both historically and culturally.

“This site tells an important story that we’ve been highlighting in our management plan,” Hoehnle explains. “It’s about the unique interaction between the Meskwaki, the Amana area, and, later, the Amana people. Those interactions continued for some 70 years. It’s an unusual American story and it’s one that we hope to hang our hat on.”

CEDAR RAPIDS - Joanna Schanz has no idea how many willow baskets she's woven over the past half century.

'No, absolutely not,” she said, laughing.

Suffice to say Schanz has woven more than a few. She can complete a basket in a day or stop and start depending on her schedule.

'I thoroughly enjoy it. For me, it's relaxing,” Shanz said.

Historically, each of the seven Amana villages had their willow patches and willow basket makers. Baskets were made to be used in their businesses, kitchen houses and homes. By 1972 there was only one active basket maker, Philip Dickel, who lived in Middle Amana. The folk art of willow basketry was revived in 1977 when he taught Schanz of West Amana how to plant, harvest and weave baskets with cultured willow. The West Amana basket weaver estimates she has plots totaling about an eighth of acre now and harvests willow every year.

In addition to weaving baskets, Schanz, who along with her husband, Norman, and their son, Michael, operate Schanz Furniture and Refinishing in South Amana, has taught classes, traveled around the country and to Europe to learn more about basketry, and helps curate an annual basket show.

And recently, she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Basketry Organization.

'That blew my mind. I don't need award for just doing something I enjoy,” she said.

The award recognizes not only her basketry but her involvement in the Philip Dickel Basket Museum, 618 Eighth Ave. in West Amana. The 2019 basket exhibit, Willow Basketry of the Amana Colonies: Past and Present, runs through Oct. 5. The museum, next to Broom & Basket Shop, is open Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays through Aug. 26. Freewill donations are accepted.

When she first started weaving, Schanz says she 'hoarded” her baskets. Dickel told her baskets are made to be used, 'and I realized I could make another one if one wore out,” she said.

Although not an Amana native, Schanz says preserving the heritage of Amana basket making is motivating. She researched Amana basketry through the years and in 1986 wrote a book, including instructions for future basket makers.

Schanz explained it's common for a basket maker to try several styles and materials until they find one they like. She's made a variety of baskets over the years, however, her favorite is the apple picker. As the name suggests, it's designed to be carried when harvesting in the orchard.

l Comments: (319) 398-8375; [email protected]

Late morning sunshine steaming from a wall of south-facing windows transforms a weathered wooden building that sets back a bit from 220th Trail in South Amana. It's bright and white, cozy and warm inside the space even in early December.

The natural light helped Cherie Hansen-Reiskamp imagine the building's potential when she and her husband, Gerald, bought the property. What for many decades had been a chicken coop is now the Garden Cottage, an adaptable room for holiday parties or yoga, reiki and meditation.

'The building has a lot of good energy. It's a very calming space,' Cherie said.

Historic property

The Reiskamp's bought their South Amana home in 2008. The house, built in 1994, sits on property that was once part of Ackerman Winery. They soon purchased the lot next door, which included the old wooden shed. There were missing windows and many dead animals in the space.

The building was erected before the Great Change of 1932 that ended the Amana communal society. It's insulated with bricks produced in South Amana during the communal period. The outside is covered in pine board-and-batten siding, replaced with Amana Society timber.

Pre-1932, the building had a wood-burning stove with a chimney next to the only human-sized door in the southwest corner. There was a chicken door at the southeast corner of the building.

Where Cherie visualized a sunny reading space, Gerald saw chickens.

Chickens

They tidied the place a bit, made some repairs, and added an outdoor chicken run. For several years, they raise chickens right next to George Berger's chicken coop and run. Their neighbor told them that in years past, a fenced area went all the way to the sidewalk leading to the old school next door (now South Amana School House Apartments). Up to 500 chickens roamed the yard back then.

The Reiskamp's flock numbered far fewer. About 25 broilers were butchered annually, enough to feed them for the year, plus eggs for sharing.

'They tasted great,' Cherie said. 'And we had a lot of eggs; we ate a lot of quiche.'

Raising livestock made it more difficult for them to get away. Every night and each morning, they had to let the chickens and in and out because of hungry wildlife. The building hadn't been wired for electricity, so this often meant working by flashlight.

When Gerald fell and broke his hand while getting feed about five years ago, they said goodbye to their chickens.

Versatile space

For a short time, Gerald used the chicken coop as a shop. When he built a separate blacksmith's shop, he ran electricity to the old chicken coop. Cherie jumped at the opportunity to repurpose the space. Their house didn't have a lot of windows, and she was starving for sunlight.

'Even when it was still a chicken coop, I would go out there in the middle of winter and sit with the chickens, sit right in the sun. That's how warm it got without any heat,' Cherie said.

With the chickens gone, they added a new roof and then painted the chicken coop inside. They intended to insulate the ceiling, but both really liked the look of the whitewashed, rough-hewed ceiling beams.

The old chicken coop is an odd shape: it seems like a small barn cut in half at its highest peak. The lower side of the sloped roof ends at about 5 feet before soaring to about 9 feet along the southern wall.

Six tall windows are each topped with a much smaller window. Cherie and her mother sewed long curtain panels from cream-colored painter's cloths, and Gerald, a blacksmith, made the curtain rods.

Four years ago, Cherie and a friend decorated the building and opened it to tours during the annual Prelude to Christmas Festival. About 500 queued through the small building to see its Japanese-themed holiday decor.

'Everybody loved it. It made them rethink something that could very easily have been abandoned,' Cherie said.

The renovation

Because it was built before the Great Change, all exterior changes to the old chicken coop must be approved by the Amana Colonies Land Use District. The seven villages of the Amanas were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

After years of repainting the original wooden windows, they requested permission to replace the wood with vinyl windows. The ACLUD approved that change and an upgrade from a wooden door to a solid, six-panel steel door. Cherie's request to install a door with multi-pane windows was turned down.

It costs a lot of money to keep the old buildings up, Cherie said. She had to make sure that what she spent would be an investment in the property. Their property is zoned commercial, which means legally they could run a business out of the chicken coop. Cherie chose to repurpose it as a yoga, reiki and meditation space to hold classes. In 2019, she traveled to India to learn how to teach yoga. She was too busy at work that year to get to work on the building's transformation.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she saw an opportunity to do a major renovation. The old floor was broken up and removed, and a new concrete floor poured. After it had cured, Cherie painted it a light periwinkle blue and sealed it. Ceiling lights add an industrial feel to the room. She estimated they spent about $6,000 updating the building this year.

Having spent time in England where such buildings are named, Cherie dubbed the former chicken coop the Garden Cottage.

The Reiskamps hosted a Halloween party for neighbors and their grandkids, who live four houses away. Everybody wore a face mask. They did a ghost walk and told ghost stories.

Then Cherie and friend Ursula Williams got busy decorating for Christmas. Williams chose German dishes with fat sheep and a sheepherder, edged in green to grace the large table. In line with the garden theme, they used birch-bark paper for place mats and included flowers on the tall Christmas tree. There is a decorative chicken on a large natural sheepskin under the tree as a nod to the building's former purpose.

The sheepskin and the white wicker furniture will stay after the holidays. Then the space will be transformed into a yoga studio. Someday, hopefully soon, the pandemic will be over, and she'll be able to invite friends in for yoga classes or meditation, she said.

Years down the road, when she and Gerald move, she imagines that the Garden Cottage could become a one- or two-person home office or a small business.

'It really is a versatile space,' Cherie said.

First show at revamped venue slated for May

The former Old Creamery Theatre in Amana is being reborn under a new moniker – the Amana Performing Arts Center – and will present its first show in May.

“We are hopeful that the theater can remain a positive asset for the Amana Society and the community,” Amana Society president and CEO Greg Luerkens said in an April 14 article in the Amana Society Bulletin. “It’s important to the Amana Society and to the community that the facility operates at a profit or at minimum, is self-sustaining, assuring it operates for years to come.”

Old Creamery, then Iowa’s oldest professional non-profit theater company, permanently closed in early February just short of its 50th anniversary.

“Like many other organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to temporarily close our doors in March of 2020,” read the notification on Old Creamery’s website from the group’s board of directors. “After an attempt at a partial re-opening this past fall/winter 2021 with roadshows, we had the hopes of putting on a regular season of shows in 2022. While the roadshows were considered a success, it was just too little, too late. The financial pressures endured during this extended closure have proven to be a catastrophe from which we could not recover. Coupled with the existing non-profit budget and all the usual expenses which were still incurred while closed, there was simply no way to continue to stay open.”

Staff members at the Amana Society, including Bruce Trumpold, Jeff Popenhagen, Dennis Hahn and Jamie Scott, began working to return the theater building to operation shortly after Old Creamery ceased operations.

“Despite being asked to leave things as they found them, the building and equipment were in disrepair and some vital equipment from the sound and lighting systems was unworkable or missing,” the Amana Society Bulletin reported. “But with a lot of hard work, brainstorming and calling in help when needed, the theater will be ready for bookings this year.”

The Performing Arts Center’s first show, “Weekend Comedy,” will be presented May 20-21. The show is described as a “hilarious comedy about two couples, one in their 20s and the other in their 50s, who book the same cabin for the same three-day weekend.” It’s written by Jeanne and Sam Bobrick and presented by TKM Productions, headed by Tom Milligan and Deborah Kennedy.

Jamie Scott, director of the Amana RV Park and Event Center, is handling all bookings for the Amana Performing Arts Center. She said the venue has already booked 10 different events, including theatrical performances, a kids theater camp and a series of weekend evening swap meets with live bluegrass music and a pop-up food vendor to be held in the back courtyard, similar to events in South Amana in 2018-2019.

The Amana Society is promoting the new venue’s availability, including working with The Hotel Millwright and the Amana Colonies RV Park to market the facility as a potential meeting site for corporate, business or club gatherings that require a large auditorium, the Amana Society Bulletin reported.

“The hope is that community groups can utilize the space in a wide array of ways,” Mr. Luerkens said. “In the immediate future, the Amana Society is working with TKM Productions (to ramp) up production of theater presentations. The hope is that this group can bring much of what the Old Creamery Theater has brought to the community in the past, maintaining Amana as a place that promotes the arts.”

While featuring theater productions is important because offering good entertainment is a natural draw, Mr. Luerkens said the Amana Society believes widening what can and will happen at the venue will help sustain its future operations.

The Amana Colonies is also studying the possibility of the area around the theater as an agritourism destination that could include attractions such as a corn maze, petting zoo, produce gardens and other family-friendly activities, The Gazette reports.

The 300-seat Performing Arts Center is located at 39 38th Ave. in Amana. For more information, check out the group’s temporary website at amanarvpark.com/amana-performing-arts-center/, call (319) 622-7616 or email [email protected]

Old Creamery was founded in 1971 in a former co-op dairy building in Garrison and moved to the Amana Colonies in 1988. At its peak, Old Creamery presented up to six mainstage shows each year, adding children’s productions to the mix in 2007.

The theatre had terminated all its staff, except for general manager Pat Wagner, in July 2020 in an effort to remain financially viable, but even receiving a Shuttered Venue Operators Grant from the federal government wasn’t enough to fully address Old Creamery’s financial woes.