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Truly Amana

The busiest of Iowa's seven Amana Colonies is both a living historic monument and a shopping heaven.

It's obvious from one look at the shop-lined streets of Amana, the largest of the seven Amana Colonies, that modern commerce is in full flower there. Even so, the first question asked about the villages is: Are the Amana people Amish?

And no wonder -- the people of the Amanas spoke German, lived simply and adhered faithfully to Scripture. Many still do. But no, they never were Amish.

The first people of the Amanas were German immigrants who came to Iowa in 1855. They were devoutly religious, as were many of the time, but in addition they believed in Inspirationism -- that God speaks to modern-day people through chosen ``Werkzeuge,'' the German word for tools, rather than ordained ministers. The name they gave their Iowa settlement, ``Amana,'' comes from the Bible and means ``remain true.''

The Amish -- and in fact, the largest community of Amish west of the Mississippi lives only 30 miles south of the Amanas, around Kalona -- take their name from Jacob Ammann, a bishop born many years before the Community of True Inspiration was founded in 1714. The Amish never were communal, but the people of the Amanas were.

That is, until 1932.

That was the year of the Great Change. A disastrous fire, an exodus of young people and the Depression's crippling effect on trade led the villages to drop the communal system to which they had held for nearly a century.

Today, capitalism flourishes, especially in the town of Amana, lined with quaint brick storefronts. And yet the church and German traditions remain, as do the trades in which the workers once pooled their skills. This expertise -- in weaving, woodcrafting, wine-making, basket-making, cooking -- have made a lasting name for the colonies, especially among tourists.

Now, where kitchen bosses once directed meals made for 10 families, restaurants serve family-style, setting out heaping platters of smoked pork chops, roast beef and bowls of corn, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. On the November day I visited, one of the best-known restaurants, the Ox Yoke Inn, was just recovering from a influx of University of Iowa football players, treated to a huge Thanksgiving dinner in Amana in the hopes they'd trounce the University of Minnesota that weekend (which they did, 45-3).

I often visit Amana on the day after Thanksgiving, which, along with the day after Christmas, is one of the busiest of the year. There's much to see. At the Millstream Brewing Co., Doyle Paterson stood at the taps, putting curlicues of froth on small glass mugs of lager, Schild Brau Amber and wheat beer. ``We follow the old German purity laws,'' he said. ``Only four ingredients - hops, malt, yeast and water.'' Outside, bushy heads of hops poked through a weathered wood fence, where a beer garden is created for summer festivals.

Across the street at the Amana Woolen Mill, the arms and shuttles of a huge Swiss loom were rising and falling on skeins of black wool. ``They can make a blanket in three minutes,'' said Nadine, a guide for the Amana Society, which owns the mill. ``We used to make our own yarn, but now we buy it from all over.'' Started in 1857, this is the last woolen mill still operating in Iowa. Only blankets - Scottish tartans, pastel baby comforters, cotton thermals -- are made; there are clothes for sale, but these, marked ``Made for the Amana Woolen Mill'' are made elsewhere.

At the Amana Furniture Shop, crowds of people were studying beautiful cherry armoires, walnut end tables, oak bed frames. ``Each craftsman works by himself on a project; it's not a production line,'' says Betty, who also wears an Amana Society name tag. ``And all our woods are solid; so many places take mixed woods and stain them to look solid.'' The workshop is behind big gallery windows in the back, past the grandfather clocks in what once was the Amana Calico Works.

As might be expected in a colony of Germans, there also are wonderful Christmas stores. The best known is the Christmas Room, where I have bought many of my favorite ornaments, but I always find many things to like at Tiny Tim's Colony Christmas — blown-glass ornaments from Poland, a old-fashioned wood-block puzzle from Czechoslovakia, a tiny wood Christmas tree from Germany.

Amana also is the home of the Museum of Amana History, where a slide show explains that before the Great Change, everyone in the colonies — tinsmiths, cobblers, griddle-makers — received store credit in return for a full day's work and their presence in church. According to the show, the switch to the profit-sharing Amana Society corporation, which still runs the mill, furniture shop, meat shop and many other enterprises, resulted in ``a bruised idealism, an injured faith.''

Next door is the Noe House Inn, one of the B&Bs that have sprung up like the dandelions the seven wineries still use to make wine. There, Rosemarie Geiger is checking in Sandy Wendt of Chaska, who is visiting the inn for the fourth time.

``I like it because it's a getaway from the city,'' Wendt says. ``Mostly, I shop and eat. I like the Schanzs' shop down the street; I love the baskets she makes.''

Wendt's room has cherry sleigh beds, quilts and hardwood floors; Geiger shows me around the rest of the house, first a communal kitchen, then a doctor's house, now a B&B with four bedrooms, a living room and a dining room. She has a distinct German accent; she was born and reared in High Amana, she says, as were her grown children, though they have only slight accents.

Geiger is the bookkeeper; she smiles as she tells me that, today, most of the shop owners come from outside the Amana Colonies, though most of the employees are locals. The values and traditions of the old colonies, she says, have changed. But she brightens when I ask about the craftsmanship for which the villages still are known.

``No, that stays,'' she says. ``That hasn't changed. That can be handed down.''

Trip Tips: Amana Colonies

Events: Maifest, first weekend of May. Amana Festival of the Arts, second Saturday in August. Eisenfest, third weekend in September. Oktoberfest, first weekend in October. Founder's Day, second Saturday in November. Prelude to Christmas, first weekend in December.

Accommodations: The Amana Colonies Holiday Inn includes the Wasserbahn Waterpark Resort, 800-633-9244, www.wasserbahn.com, www.amanahotel.com.

The Guest House Motor Inn in Amana has 38 rooms in two buildings, one modern and one an 1860 sandstone building once used as a communal kitchen.  (319) 622-3599, 877-331-0828.

Nature trail: There are four segments of the Amana Society Nature Trail on a 135-acre wooded tract at the intersection of highways 6 and 151 near Homestead. The longest, 3.2 miles, leads to a bluff overlooking the Iowa River and a 250-year-old V-shaped Indian dam devised to catch fish.

Nightlife: The professional Old Creamery Theatre performs from May through December. (800) 352-6262.

Museum: Walking tours leave daily from the museum, open mid-April to mid-November. (319) 622-3567.

Information: Amana Colonies Convention and Visitors Bureau, (800) 245-5465, (319) 622-7622, www.amanacolonies.com.


Last updated on January 1, 2008