Historic Hills Scenic Byway

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On this episode of Road Trip Iowa, we're traveling the Historic Hills Scenic Byway.

We live in a unique part of the world that does contribute to our finished products.

From Rathbun Lake to the villages of Van Buren County.

Oh, now it's coming up, I see it. Okay.

We'll follow in the footsteps of Iowa's earliest settlers.

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You're doing good.

Okay.

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Next, on Road Trip Iowa.

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Kwik Star is proud to be a part of Iowa communities across the state. Family owned for over 50 years, we're dedicated to treating our guests, employees and communities as we would like to be treated.

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Musco Lighting is an Iowa company that travels across the U.S. and to more than 125 countries to light community recreation fields, stadiums, airports, monuments and more. While our reach is global, we're committed to our local communities.

The Gilchrist Foundation, founded by Jocelyn Gilchrist, furthering the philanthropic interests of the Gilchrist family in wildlife and conservation, the arts and public broadcasting and disaster relief.

 

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[Brooke Kohlsdorf] The Historic Hills Scenic Byway is a 105-mile route that traces the Des Moines River through five counties in Southeast Iowa. From European settlers and Mormon pioneers to today's Mennonite and Amish communities, the roots of tradition are strong in this part of the state and on full display. Let's take a look at today's itinerary.

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[Kohlsdorf] We'll strike a pose in front of an iconic gothic window. Drop in on a cheese operation that uses locally sourced dairy. Follow the Des Moines River to Iowa's second oldest state park. And we'll get craft at a combination blacksmith and pottery shop.

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[Kohlsdorf] We begin near Moravia at a destination getaway on one of the largest lakes in Iowa.

 

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[Kohlsdorf] Situated on over 800-acres adjoining Rathbun Lake, one of Iowa's largest bodies of water, lies Honey Creek Resort.

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[Beth Henderson] Southern Iowa has a little different feel than the rest of the state. It's kind of the undiscovered gem.

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[Kohlsdorf] From their iconic lodge with 99 of its 106 rooms themed after Iowa's individual counties, to the acclaimed bar and restaurant and event spaces, Honey Creek prides itself on being a multiple use destination for the entire family.

[Beth Henderson] We really want this to be when you come to Honey Creek you feel like, wow, I'm someplace special.

[Kohlsdorf] Originally opened in 2008 as a state-owned enterprise, the resort is getting a fresh start under new ownership.

[Beth Henderson] When we saw it, we saw the potential. There is so much to do here, but yet we wanted to add more attractions, get people here and really showcase Honey Creek with some different excursions.

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[Train Conductor] You're aboard Honey Creek Resort Express.

[Beth Henderson] So, the first thing we did is we bought the train. The train is a fun way to tour around the resort. It takes you back on the trails. You see the wildlife. And then the horse drawn carriages. That takes you around back by the water, a beautiful way to see the resort. The beach is fabulous. We've got pontoon rentals, go boats, paddle boats. When you see those out on Rathbun Lake, you know they're a part of Honey Creek Resort.

[Kohlsdorf] Other facelifts include transforming former storage space into a top floor wine and bourbon bar and a ground floor general store with gifts and prized root beer floats. In addition to renovating 28 fully furnished cabins and an indoor water park, Honey Creek's 18-hole golf course, The Preserve, continues to impress aficionados, making the lakeside location one of the best ways to experience the area's natural and cultivated bounties.

[Beth Henderson] Our logo was developed after a cattle brand. It represents Iowa agriculture, cattle country. Also, the R on the HCR has a little squiggle on it and that represents the Chariton Valley River, which was dammed up to make Rathbun Lake.

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[Kohlsdorf] The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, who initially brought Honey Creek to fruition, continues to operate a top-notch fishery at Rathbun, protecting self-sustaining species and bolstering game fish for anglers.

[Mark Flammang] We have a number of stocking programs. Walleye is a real big one. We're also stocking hybrid straight bass, kind of the common mans' trophy fish. It's also an opportunity to establish the state's first kind of trophy paddle fish fishery, a very unique fish. They have this really largemouth gape. It's hard to believe, but this little guy could potentially grow to be 100 pounds or more.

[Beth Henderson] Rathbun Lake is one of the top fishing lakes in the nation. Fisherman get very excited about Rathbun Lake.

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[Kohlsdorf] Constructed in 1903, Moravia's Wabash Combination Depot, one of two remaining in Iowa, served as a weigh station for both commercial freight and rail passengers over several decades in the 20th century. The Wabash Railroad once connected the Great Lakes to cities and towns in the Mississippi Water Shed, as far west as the Missouri River. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1996, the Queen Anne style building's curators now display local memorabilia, railroad artifacts and in a nod to area heritage, have adorned it with Moravian stars.

[Marcia Benjamin] In 1976, the Combination Depot was given to the historical society. However, it had to be moved to this side of the road because it couldn't be so close to the tracks because of having public visitors.

[Kohlsdorf] A separate electric railway, whose own depot serviced local small-town routes, remains as part of the collection. Over the years, other landmarks have arrived to the museum grounds including a country school, summer kitchen and stained-glass church. Passersby can learn about them via a smartphone audio tour along with the story of a local author with a giant reach.

[Voice of Audio Tour] Welcome to Moravia, the childhood home of World War I veteran James Floyd Stevens, the author of the book Paul Bunyan, written in 1925. His stories helped to make Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox legendary figures in American folklore.

[Marcia Benjamin] He was an adventurer. He went to the northwest. Around the campfires he heard many of these stories that he would then embellish. He was the one that kind of collected them and then wrote them down and brought them to a national audience and published.

[Kohlsdorf] While some of Stevens' thinly-veiled satire was known to have ruffled feathers among conservative townsfolk, Moravia and surrounding communities now embrace him, as well as the structures and relics they house here as significant stops along the line of historical legacy.

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[Kohlsdorf] If you're a traveler who likes a little culture along the way, take a short detour north of the byway to the town of Eldon where you'll find one of the most recognizable homes in American history.

 

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[Kohlsdorf] Iowa artist Grant Wood was a key figure in the regionalist art movement of the 1930s, which favored traditional, often rural scenes taken directly from everyday life. Wood's chance encounter with a memorable southeast Iowa farmhouse would produce one of the best-known artworks of the 20th century.

[Cari Nicely] So, when he came to this little town of Eldon, his inspiration was that big window on that little tiny house that kind of made him chuckle and say, well that's pretty pretentious for such a small home in a very modest area. And so, that gave him the idea for his painting, which is now known as American Gothic. He wanted the models to be people that he imagined lived there. They're not kings. They're not queens. And that is definitely not a castle. This was very crucial at a time that our country was in really bad shape. We're at the beginning of the Great Depression.

[Kohlsdorf] Today, Wood's iconic canvas is celebrated at the American Gothic House Center, an interactive museum dedicated to preserving the legacy of the world-famous house and window next door.

[Cari Nicely] When you come down the lane, the first thing you see is the famous house. And then off to the left, you'll notice that there is another building, which is the Center. You can come in and you can learn a little bit more. The two models were his sister Nan and his dentist Dr. Byron McKeeby. They did not know each other. They did not pose in front of the house. You could even borrow the costumes, with the admission price you can use the costumes and go take your own picture in front of the house with the costumes, the pitchfork. His painting was finished in October of 1930 and he entered it into the annual art show at the Art Institute of Chicago. He won third place and with that he got $300 and I believe it's the Friends of the Art Institute of Chicago, they purchased it for another $300. They are the owners. They are still the owners. But as for the town, it's about the house. And the people here are very proud of that. It is a way for tourism to come here to a town of I think it's 783 people now to bring people. We had around 16,000 people in the last fiscal year and it brings people from all over the world.

[Tourist] We're from Ontario, which if you imagine Detroit, we're about 50 miles due east. It must be tough to be an artist in a farm community because it's not like you're doing real work, you know, you're doing that other thing. But he prevailed and it's amazing that the house has survived.

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[Tourist] It's just a great stop along the road.

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[Kohlsdorf] The rolling hills of southern Iowa's Van Buren County are part and parcel of an award-winning globetrotting food with humble origins.

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[Rufus "Junior" Musser IV] We live in a unique part of the world that does contribute to our finished products. In the cheese world, we like to talk about terroir, which is a French word that means general area, the bacteria. It's in the environment. It's on the grass and in the feed that the cows were eating and that affects flavor.

[Rufus "Junior" Musser IV] Cheese gets made in the other building and comes out here for aging.

[Kohlsdorf] Rufus Musser IV, or Junior as he is known, is a family owner of Milton Creamery, which sources milk from five local Amish and Mennonite dairies.

Straight off the farm right there.

[Kohlsdorf] All within 25 miles of their plant to create several renowned varieties of cheddar cheese.

[Rufus "Junior" Musser IV] You've got all your different products here, Prairie Breeze, Garden Vegetable, Cheddar, Tomato Garlic, Black Pepper, Caramelized Onion, 4 Alarm, Old Style Cheddar.

[Rufus "Junior" Musser IV] So, what aging does, it allows the flavors to develop.

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[Rufus "Junior" Musser IV] We're basically chefs with big kettles. It's really neat how you just take a simple vat full of milk and six hours later you've got 900, 1000 pounds of cheese. There's a lot involved in cheesemaking. There's art, there's science, there's passion involved.

[Kohlsdorf] In addition to their flagship Prairie Breeze variety, Milton Creamery is known for a Midwest staple, cheese curds. Junior says it takes about 100 pounds of milk to make just ten pounds of cheese.

[Rufus "Junior" Musser IV] Anybody can make cheese, but not everybody can make the same cheese so that the end product comes out very consistently. All milk comes in, we pasteurize it, it goes in the cheese vat, we add our starter cultures, let milk coagulate and we'll cut the curd, we'll rake the curds back, drain the whey off and then we'll start cutting it into slabs and start flipping and stacking those slabs on top of each other, which is called the cheddaring process. Cheddaring is a noun and a verb.

[Kohlsdorf] Bursting onto the scene nearly two decades ago, Milton Creamery took farmer's markets by storm. They have since expanded, won several domestic and international awards, and become a household name in the region.

[Rufus "Junior" Musser IV] We have a fan base. Customers love it. We just had a person email us saying that she is convinced that we are using narcotics to make the cheese because it is this addictive.

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[Kohlsdorf] Milton Creamery products can be found in all 50 states. And Junior says new cheese offerings are on the horizon. In the meantime, he suggests some pairings to maximize palates and relationships.

[Rufus "Junior" Musser IV] If I'm doing a burger, I'll either look at a 4 Alarm or a Caramelized Onion or the Morning Harvest. Or if I'm doing say scalloped potatoes, I'll put Caramelized Onion in there. A salad you've got to have Prairie Breeze. Food brings families together.

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[Kohlsdorf] Dedicated in 1921, Iowa's second ever state park, Lacey-Keosauqua, gained its current name five years later in a nod to Native America roots and to honor influential U.S. Congressman, lawyer, conservationist and Civil War Veteran John Fletcher Lacey.

[Justin Pedretti] The original name of the park was Big Bend State Park just because of the big huge bend in the Des Moines River right here. You can look on an Iowa map and when you see the Des Moines River makes a big bend you know right where you're at, you're at Lacey-Keosauqua State Park.

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[Kohlsdorf] The park's 1600-acres offer 13 miles of scenic hiking paths, multiple camping sites, family cabins, stone lodges and a manmade lake thanks to the CCC, a Great Depression era New Deal work relief program.

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[Justin Pedretti] The Civilian Conservation Corps built the park and the structures and put together the trails. They quarried the stone right out of the park. They built Lake Lacey, which is about a 30-acre lake. There's 147 stone steps to go down to the beach. We have historical markers throughout the park. Very rich in history here.

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[Kohlsdorf] In addition to commemorating a significant 200-year-old Mormon Trail river crossing that happened here, unmarked Indian burial mounds have been found overlooking the river where up to 150,000 annual fishermen, kayakers and hikers have reported wildlife ranging from deer and fox to wild turkey and bobcat, along with unrivaled bird watching opportunities.

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[Kohlsdorf] The villages of Van Buren County are a collection of 11 quaint towns, which still bear the remnants of Iowa's earliest settlers.

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[Kohlsdorf] Travelers come from far and wide to see the vintage setting and to experience the warm hospitality of local merchants and artisans.

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[Kohlsdorf] We pulled off in Bentonsport at Iron and Lace, where for more than 30 years husband and wife Bill and Betty Printy have been teaching workshops in pottery and blacksmithing. Let's try it out.

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[Kohlsdorf] Betty, thanks for having us to Iron and Lace, your store. Tell us a little bit about it.

[Betty Printy] Oh, the name is Iron and Lace because the blacksmith does iron work and then I do Queen Anne's lace pottery. So, we thought Iron and Lace was a good name and so that is what we started out in 1990 when we built the building.

[Kohlsdorf] Yeah, tell us about the building. It looks old.

[Betty Printy] It was actually built from old materials. We tore down four barns and cleaned them up and put up this structure. We've been very happy here.

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[Kohlsdorf] Betty is well known for her signature line of Queen Anne's lace pottery, which she has been crafting for nearly four decades. I'm joining her at the throwing wheel for a demonstration of how she does it and to get my hands dirty as well.

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[Kohlsdorf] Right in the center?

[Betty Printy] Mm-hmm. I'm going to help. No, over here.

[Kohlsdorf] Pull it out. Okay.

[Betty Printy] Yep, there you go. Wonderful. Wonderful job. Push in and this is supporting the inside. See --

[Kohlsdorf] Oh, now it's coming up, I see it. Okay.

[Betty Printy] Slowly bring it up, supporting with the inside. Wonderful.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay.

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[Kohlsdorf] Just now let go of the sponge. Okay.

[Betty Printy] Yeah, very good.

[Kohlsdorf] Wow, I did this!

[Betty Printy] You did this!

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[Betty Printy] Brooke, this is a leather hard pot. I made this last night so that it would be dry enough that we can put the flowers on it. This pot is very wet, so we really want to lay a towel on your lap to help cushion the pot because we're going to put the Queen Anne's lace on this. So, then we pattern where we want the flower and I usually put one here and then one kind of there.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay, so like this. Okay.

[Betty Printy] And then you take the back of your fingernail and you put down every one of those little blossoms into the pot.

[Kohlsdorf] And then this stays on the whole time, right?

[Betty Printy] Yes, this will dry on there and then be fired.

[Kohlsdorf] And then it burns off?

[Betty Printy] Mm-hmm. So, all of the stuff that is sticking up here all gets pushed down into the pot.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay, so it's an imprint.

[Betty Printy] It imprints into there.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay, so what happens when this part is done?

[Betty Printy] This pot will have the blue applied around the flower and then it will dry two weeks and then it is put into the kiln at about 1,900 degrees and that burns the flower away, it sets the paint and then it is taken out and glazed and refired to 2,200 degrees. And then you have a pot that looks like this.

[Kohlsdorf] And it's beautiful.

[Betty Printy] Thank you. You've been a great student.

[Kohlsdorf] Thank you. You're a great teacher.

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[Kohlsdorf] Next, I'm headed to the blacksmith shop where Betty's husband Bill plies his trade.

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[Bill Printy] I started out as a hobby and started doing art and craft shows. And I was set up one day, a friend of mine approached me and said, have you ever heard of Bentonsport? And I said, no, can't say I have. He said, well there's an old man. He said, he's restored a blacksmith shop up there and he's looking for somebody to come and work it.

[Kohlsdorf] Bill made the trip and in the late 1980s he took over the blacksmithing enterprise in Bentonsport. There, he met his wife Betty and that was the beginning of Iron and Lace.

[Kohlsdorf] So, for a lot of people who stop by, you show them how to use some of your tools, right? Can you show me how to handle them?

[Bill Printy] I sure can.

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[Bill Printy] Because this is small, it doesn't take big heavy blows.

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[Bill Printy] It's starting to cool off.

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[Kohlsdorf] Am I doing it right?

[Bill Printy] Down towards the tip. We're trying to forge a square there.

[Kohlsdorf] Ah, I see.

[Bill Printy] Okay, we've lost our heat.

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[Bill Printy] You're doing good.

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[Bill Printy] Blacksmiths always mess around with their fires a lot. Out here over the horn, hammer it down and I'm dropping my arm down as I go and I'm going to roll it over like this -- starting to form that hook shape.

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[Bill Printy] That looks pretty good, doesn't it?

[Kohlsdorf] Yeah, it does.

[Bill Printy] Do you like that?

[Kohlsdorf] Yeah, that's nice.

[Bill Printy] Yeah, but I'm not done with it.

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[Bill Printy] At this point, I want that tip fairly hot.

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[Bill Printy] And I'm going to turn it up like this.

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[Kohlsdorf] Am I doing this right?

[Bill Printy] Yeah.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay.

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[Bill Printy] Oh, not too bad.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay.

[Bill Printy] That's not too bad at all.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay. How many of these do you think you've made over the years?

[Bill Printy] Are you kidding me?

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[Kohlsdorf] A stone's throw from the Des Moines River, one of the state's largest remaining continuous woodlands, Shimek State Forest, exudes roughly 9,500 acres of pristine natural beauty.

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[Kohlsdorf] Championed in the 1930s as part of an unrealized federal Hawkeye National Forest, the land here, maintained by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, now offers extensive trails, camping, hunting, fishing, equestrian and other recreational activities centered on conservation and education.

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[John Byrd] We have a great opportunity here of our massive oak resource. The CCC was vital in creating a lot of the habitat that was degraded pasture land.

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[Kohlsdorf] The Civilian Conservation Corps planted several acres of pine and native hardwoods here that remain to this day. But it was the University of Iowa botanist and naturalist Dr. Bohumil Shimek who successfully petitioned the state legislature to purchase and, so far, protect the area for nearly a century.

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[Kohlsdorf] In 1950, the state officially named the forest in his honor. Shimek's extensive cataloging of the diverse flora here still lends itself to an academic foundation for understanding Iowa's natural landscapes.

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[Kohlsdorf] Filled with wooded landscapes and rich cultural heritage, the Historic Hills Scenic Byway is a journey back in time.

 

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[Kohlsdorf] We got some R&R on Rathbun Lake at Honey Creek Resort. Stepped into a legendary painting in Eldon. Discovered the culture behind the cheese at Milton Creamery. And learned the Queen Anne's lace pottery technique in Bentonsport.

 

[Kohlsdorf] We hope you discovered something new on the Historic Hills Scenic Byway. And if you did, hit the road and check out southeast Iowa for yourself. For more on the history, culture and landscapes along Iowa's scenic byways, join us next time on Road Trip Iowa.

 

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Kwik Star is proud to be a part of Iowa communities across the state. Family owned for over 50 years, we're dedicated to treating our guests, employees and communities as we would like to be treated.

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Musco Lighting is an Iowa company that travels across the U.S. and to more than 125 countries to light community recreation fields, stadiums, airports, monuments and more. While our reach is global, we're committed to our local communities.

The Gilchrist Foundation, founded by Jocelyn Gilchrist, furthering the philanthropic interests of the Gilchrist family in wildlife and conservation, the arts and public broadcasting and disaster relief.