Den and I are kind of semi-retired, I guess you could say. We do a fair amount of volunteer work both here in Manchester as well as back in my hometown of Mt. Pleasant. By volunteering you get to meet some really nice people and see how things work behind the scenes in events and happening.
When we found out that RAGBRAI was to have it's "next to the last" "over-nighter" in Mt. Pleasant this summer, we figured we could help out and see some of the action as well. So, early on we let some of the organizers know that we would be available.
This year the ride started in Council Bluffs where the riders dipped their rear tires in the Missouri River and then headed east on the assigned route for this years gathering finishing by dipping the front tires in the Mississippi in Burlington. Along the way there was a skillet throwing contest in one town and Brighton turned out offering "whoopie pies". Along the roads for miles and miles there were signs telling about the "great whoopie" in Brighton. You saw folks in some of the wildest outfits, neon-bright colors and to be quite honest some of those folks really should have given all of that spandex a pass. One fellow from Denver made the ride in a Speedo telling everyone that would listen that it made him more aero-dynamic. Check out these sites online http://ragbrai.com/ and http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=RAGBRAI&template=landing as they have some pretty good pictures and stories.
Some of you might remember that they came through Manchester a couple of years ago. That year Den and I worked the beer garden selling tickets. I had heard about RAGBRAI for years but never gotten close enough to witness the event, so we were kind of excited when it went through Manchester and actually, right past our house . (Maybe I should explain here that while I have a bicycle, I would never ride in anything like this as about ten minutes into the peddling my "bum" goes numb and all of the fun goes out of it at that point. So I applaud those who ride and remain on the side lines to do it.) On a whole, I think that the event, as far as Manchester was concerned, went rather well.
If your town is going to play host to one of these events, I would suggest getting all of the information that you can about the expectations and needs of these riders and their support. I can tell you that it is not the event for the tender young "event planner" to cut his teeth on.
While working at the Camper's Store as a volunteer I had the chance to become reacquainted with one of my classmates from let's just say "years ago". She and the rest of the Henry County Heritage Trust are involved in preserving the birth place of James Van Allen (http://www.agu.org/inside/awards/vanallen.html). It is Dr. Van Allen for whom the radiation belts that surround the earth are named. I would love to be learned enough to tell you all of the wondrous things that this man was involved in over his life but let's just let Wikipedia tell you.
* James graduated as valedictorian of his 1931 graduation class from Mt. Pleasant Community High School.
* He went on to college at Iowa Wesleyan College and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1935.
* He then went on to the University of Iowa to achieve his masters in 1936.
* In 1939 Van Allen received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the University of Iowa. His doctoral research was on measuring the cross-section of the deuteron-deuteron reaction. Margie what the heck it is that, let's allow the computer to solve that one as well by visiting this site, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuterium). Needless to say his achievements go on and on from there.
Dr. Van Allen's birthplace has remained a place of interest and holds much of the family memorabilia. However, it is not able to sustain itself on it's own merits to the point of being self sufficient. It was recently sold at auction to Lee Pennibaker who thought to demolish the home for the land value. Wise and good person that she is she rethought the whole thing and now is donating the house to the Henry County Heritage Trust. The home, built in 1862, by George Clinton Van Allen, Dr. Van Allen’s grandfather, making it one of the oldest structures in Mount Pleasant, is to be preserved however not at it's original location. The house is to be "raised" and relocated to the site of the Henry County Historical Museum, who's location is the oldest existing grade school in Mt. Pleasant, Saunders Elementary. They are planning a full foundation for the old house and should move it sometime during the month of August. With restoration to be completed in the month of September. I would expect that this home would not be ready for viewing until after the Old Threshers gathering over labor day. I will keep you posted. It will be one of those Iowa treasures that deserves a visit.
I hope to see you out exploring "Across Iowa and Maybe a Bit Beyond".
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Fenelon Place Elevator and Mathias Ham House, Dubuque
Bob Welsh and the gift shop attendant at the Ham House. Bob is a storyteller, singer and banjo player and performs at Civil War reenactments around the tri-state area.
Oldest surviving log cabin in Iowa or so they say. This one is described in the writing. This is a Dog-Trot log cabin seem more frequently in the south. The kitchen is on the right and the living quarters are on the left. In the middle is a kind of breezeway that the family dogs liked to lay around in, thus, Dog Trot.
An example of what a "badger hole" might have looked like in the early 1800's. Illegal mining was done in the area looking for lead. This would have been the kind of shelter that these men would have constructed.
One of the two cars returning to the lower station at the Fenelon Place Elevator in Dubuque, just off of the 400 block of Bluff St..
Lead mining was done in several different ways. The Indians did what we might call strip mined just on the surface. The white man would did holes sometime many feet beneith the surface. The vain always ran east and west of lead. This is a depiction of an mine entrance. The wooden bucket was called a kittle and using a "Pigtail" hock was used to lower the miners and their tools into the mine and as well as raise the lead pieces to the surface.
Rear view of the Ham House
The front of the Ham House. NO filter was used on this shot, the sky was that blue when Denny took the picture.
We woke up to a beautiful morning with the birds tuning up and the sky so blue it hurt your eyes. Buddy knew we were getting ready to take a day trip and by now he had resigned himself to staying cool at home when it is so warm outside. We wanted to take in a couple of sights in Dubuque but first we grabbed a breakfast sandwich at Hardee's and then a stop to see what was being offered at the Manchester Farmer's Market. Our friend, Mike Henderson and his family were there with fresh veggies and homemade breads. Irene was there with her soaps and many more. Thank goodness we brought the cooler with our picnic lunch in it as we purchased so much that we completely filled it. If you haven't stopped in on a Saturday morning to check it out, you really should. Sweet corn will be coming soon so, make it a point to be there.
One of those places that is kind of a wee thing but of historical significance is the Fenelon Place Elevator Company. OK, I know, when you get in most elevators you see an OTIS sign, not Fenelon but that is another story. This is something that only Dubuque has. It is located off of the 400 block of Bluff Street. But wait, let's start at the beginning. Back in 1882, Dubuque was an hour and a half town (get this, everything in town shut down for an hour and a half for everyone to go home and have a nice lunch). When I was working for Motorola and Honeywell and the like it was 30 minutes or less and then you were back on the job and working. I thought things were supposed to have been so rough back then........ Anyway, Mr. J. K. Graves, a former mayor, former State Senator and also mining promoter and banker lived up high on the bluff and worked at the bottom. Driving his horse and buggy to and from work involved a half hour ride each way and the good man didn't have time to eat his lunch and get in a nap as well. What to do? Well, remembering things that he had seen on trips to Europe, he came up with this elevator system between home and work to shorten the trip. It became the method for many others to make the same trip up the hill. The venture had several fires and each time Mr. Graves rebuilt until 1893 when a bad recession made it impossible for Mr. Graves to again rebuild. This time ten neighbors got together and formed "Fenelon Place Elevator Company" and took it over. So, let's see, that was 116 years ago and it is still in operation today. $2.00 per adult buys you a round trip ticket to the top and back. At the top you are blessed with a beautiful view of the city of Dubuque and views of Illinois and Wisconsin. Visit it online at www.dbq.com/fenplco/. This wonderfully restored area of Dubuque is filled with the beautiful architecture of years gone by. Many of the old homes have been converted into galleries and boutiques. Just up the street is The Redstone Inn. Margie, this place is so pretty to see on the outside, we just have to find a time to stay there. http://www.theredstoneinn.com/history.htm
We also wanted to see the Mathias Ham House off of Lincoln Street. This 1856 mansion shares the grounds with several other historic "saves" from around the Dubuque area and is located very near Eagle Point State Park. Unlike the Montauk mansion this home was not preserved by the family that built it. The story of Mr. Ham is kind of sad and filled with loss and disappointment but then life is kind of like that sometimes.
On the same location is an example of a "dog trot" log home that has been moved twice and now is owned by the Dubuque Historical Society. It was discovered some years back when a group of men were preparing to side a house in town. When they were removing the old siding they discovered the log home beneath. Calls were made and history dug into and the home was acquired and moved to Eagle Point Park and rented out for events and gatherings. As often happens when a building becomes "public in use" it was abused and that is what was happening to this very old log cabin. The Dubuque Historical group took it over and had it moved to it's present location where it is lovingly cared for and still the public can enjoy looking and learning with one of the docents from the mansion.
The sight also offers a recovered one room school house from the area.
Our "period dressed" docent was Bob Welch. His knowledge of the house and era were extensive. For a $5.00 charge each, a visitor can take a step back in time. As I said before, the Mathias Ham home is not furnished with the furnishings of the Ham family but everything in the home is of the period. Built of quarried limestone, the Italianate villa style home is wonderfully well preserved and deserves a visit. Open 11AM-4PM daily.
As I have said near by is Eagle Point State Park, a beautiful place and every time that we have been there, it is filled to the brim with people and activity. It is one of the hot spots for company picnics, weddings and other get togethers. We had brought our picnic lunch of my own dilled potato salad and tequila lime chicken breast sandwiches. Some cold lemonade topped it off nicely. Many picnic tables and benches come complete with a fantastic view of the Mississippi River below.
We enjoyed our days adventure and met some really nice people from places like Keokuk and across the river in Illinois. You just never know what surprises are out there for you. Hope to see you out and exploring "Across Iowa and Maybe a Bit Beyond".
God Bless,
Linda
Saturday, July 4, 2009
"Montauk" Historic Governor's Home
One of the gowns worn my Mrs. Anna Larrabee and displayed in what was their bed chamber.
The Larrabee's dining room. The children ate at this table when they had learned to conduct themselves as proper young ladies and gentlemen. Until then they ate in the kitchen and practiced their manners. This table has no leaves but is made larger by removing the half rounds of the top and replacing them with a larger size. There are five sizes. Note the glasses, you most often see cobalt but look at the color of these. The wee swans are salt sellers and the small rounds are butter pats.
"Montauk" the home of Iowa's twelfth governor, Wm. Larrabee. Built in 1874.Montauk Historic Governor's Home
You know I am human, right. Well, being human I do make mistakes and last week's piece had a mistake that I need to correct for all of the history buffs out there. Iowa became a state in 1846 not 1848. I guess I failed Iowa history 101.
Hey, I hope everyone had a great long weekend and lots of fun celebrating our nations birthday. We did opt out of going camping this weekend as we figured with almost all of the local campgrounds, having had flood damage last summer, would be WAY full this weekend. We will make up for missing it, so count on seeing us out there in the next few weeks. Still, not having gone camping we still have had a great time on the fourth.
Despite the rain Den, Buddy and I bundled in to the car with bag chairs for each of us (you heard right, Buddy get's his own chair for parades), a cooler filled with liquid refreshments and a few snacks and we grabbed our "bumbershoots" and hit the road. It was raining softly but "The Weather Underground" assured us that it was clearing in Independence so we should be driving out of the rain. Let me tell you those guys are just throwing darts, Margie. It was raining when we arrived and barely let up the entire hour or so that we stood watching the parade. The marchers were braving the wet with banners held high, horns tooting and drums firing out the rhythm. Ronald McDonald was there as were the Shriners and their "Wee Winnie's". Winnebago's, cute though I couldn't tell if they were Braves or Chieftains. Pretty well soaked, especially Buddy, we made our way back to our car and headed out to see one of Iowa's Historic sights.
The pretty little town of Clermont in northeast Iowa was home to the twelfth governor of our state. Do you have any idea how many governors Iowa has had? Well, Margie, I looked it up, we have had 41 governors. The twelfth one was Governor William Larrabee. He came here from Connecticut. Mrs. Larrabee's father was a sailing man and the Montauk lighthouse on the Long Island, New York coast was a beacon to him that he was finally home. It was this lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse in the state of New York, for which the Larrabee home in Clermont is named.
Larrabee came to own some 200,000 acres of farmland in the state of Iowa and adjoining states, of which, 100,000 were in Iowa. My husband grew up on one of the farms that the Larrabee family owned in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Montauk and it's buildings are set high on the hill over looking the town of Clermont and the Turkey river. It was built in 1874 and was the Larrabee family's third home. The home was designed by the same architect that designed the Villa Louis in Prairie du Chien. The house is built of brick inside and out. Yes, Margie, the walls between the rooms are brick. Made it kind of tough to modernize back in 1910 as the electrical conduits had to be run where it shows. All of the pictures and artwork (of which there a great deal) had to be hung from "picture rails" installed around each of the rooms. It was built with running water and had a hot water system that served the kitchen, two bathrooms, and six bedrooms (each with a marble sink and running water). The house has twelve rooms all with very high ceilings and almost each with two entrances. The Larrabee's had seven children and two that never married. Anna Larrabee died well into her 90's in the 1960's having lived almost her entire life in this wonderful old home. Upon her death the house and it's contents were willed to the state of Iowa and is now one of the places that your family and you might enjoy touring. The admission is free of charge. Their tours start every 15 minutes from 12:00PM until 4:00PM and are handled by three very knowledgeable and friendly docents. http://www.clermontia.org/VTOURmontauk.htm
The area offers lots of things to see and do, check it out at http://www.clermontia.org/. We intend a return visit so we might see you there.
There are lots of things "Across Iowa and Maybe a Bit Beyond" that are easy day trips if you care to do a bit of exploring. So, I hope to see you around the next corner enjoying the great state we live in!
Gov. Larrabee's desk. Think of the old secretary desk only more commanding. When Gov. Larrabee was away he would close the desk up and lock it. There was a mail slot for mail to be deposited in his absents but when he returned everything was as he left it with the exception of the accumulated mail.
The Larrabee's dining room. The children ate at this table when they had learned to conduct themselves as proper young ladies and gentlemen. Until then they ate in the kitchen and practiced their manners. This table has no leaves but is made larger by removing the half rounds of the top and replacing them with a larger size. There are five sizes. Note the glasses, you most often see cobalt but look at the color of these. The wee swans are salt sellers and the small rounds are butter pats.
One of the gowns worn my Mrs. Anna Larrabee and displayed in what was their bed chamber.
God Bless,
Linda
You know I am human, right. Well, being human I do make mistakes and last week's piece had a mistake that I need to correct for all of the history buffs out there. Iowa became a state in 1846 not 1848. I guess I failed Iowa history 101.
Hey, I hope everyone had a great long weekend and lots of fun celebrating our nations birthday. We did opt out of going camping this weekend as we figured with almost all of the local campgrounds, having had flood damage last summer, would be WAY full this weekend. We will make up for missing it, so count on seeing us out there in the next few weeks. Still, not having gone camping we still have had a great time on the fourth.
Despite the rain Den, Buddy and I bundled in to the car with bag chairs for each of us (you heard right, Buddy get's his own chair for parades), a cooler filled with liquid refreshments and a few snacks and we grabbed our "bumbershoots" and hit the road. It was raining softly but "The Weather Underground" assured us that it was clearing in Independence so we should be driving out of the rain. Let me tell you those guys are just throwing darts, Margie. It was raining when we arrived and barely let up the entire hour or so that we stood watching the parade. The marchers were braving the wet with banners held high, horns tooting and drums firing out the rhythm. Ronald McDonald was there as were the Shriners and their "Wee Winnie's". Winnebago's, cute though I couldn't tell if they were Braves or Chieftains. Pretty well soaked, especially Buddy, we made our way back to our car and headed out to see one of Iowa's Historic sights.
The pretty little town of Clermont in northeast Iowa was home to the twelfth governor of our state. Do you have any idea how many governors Iowa has had? Well, Margie, I looked it up, we have had 41 governors. The twelfth one was Governor William Larrabee. He came here from Connecticut. Mrs. Larrabee's father was a sailing man and the Montauk lighthouse on the Long Island, New York coast was a beacon to him that he was finally home. It was this lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse in the state of New York, for which the Larrabee home in Clermont is named.
Larrabee came to own some 200,000 acres of farmland in the state of Iowa and adjoining states, of which, 100,000 were in Iowa. My husband grew up on one of the farms that the Larrabee family owned in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Montauk and it's buildings are set high on the hill over looking the town of Clermont and the Turkey river. It was built in 1874 and was the Larrabee family's third home. The home was designed by the same architect that designed the Villa Louis in Prairie du Chien. The house is built of brick inside and out. Yes, Margie, the walls between the rooms are brick. Made it kind of tough to modernize back in 1910 as the electrical conduits had to be run where it shows. All of the pictures and artwork (of which there a great deal) had to be hung from "picture rails" installed around each of the rooms. It was built with running water and had a hot water system that served the kitchen, two bathrooms, and six bedrooms (each with a marble sink and running water). The house has twelve rooms all with very high ceilings and almost each with two entrances. The Larrabee's had seven children and two that never married. Anna Larrabee died well into her 90's in the 1960's having lived almost her entire life in this wonderful old home. Upon her death the house and it's contents were willed to the state of Iowa and is now one of the places that your family and you might enjoy touring. The admission is free of charge. Their tours start every 15 minutes from 12:00PM until 4:00PM and are handled by three very knowledgeable and friendly docents. http://www.clermontia.org/VTOURmontauk.htm
The area offers lots of things to see and do, check it out at http://www.clermontia.org/. We intend a return visit so we might see you there.
There are lots of things "Across Iowa and Maybe a Bit Beyond" that are easy day trips if you care to do a bit of exploring. So, I hope to see you around the next corner enjoying the great state we live in!
Gov. Larrabee's desk. Think of the old secretary desk only more commanding. When Gov. Larrabee was away he would close the desk up and lock it. There was a mail slot for mail to be deposited in his absents but when he returned everything was as he left it with the exception of the accumulated mail.
The Larrabee's dining room. The children ate at this table when they had learned to conduct themselves as proper young ladies and gentlemen. Until then they ate in the kitchen and practiced their manners. This table has no leaves but is made larger by removing the half rounds of the top and replacing them with a larger size. There are five sizes. Note the glasses, you most often see cobalt but look at the color of these. The wee swans are salt sellers and the small rounds are butter pats.
One of the gowns worn my Mrs. Anna Larrabee and displayed in what was their bed chamber.
God Bless,
Linda
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