The Amana Colonies were one of many utopian colonies established on American soil during the 18th and 19th centuries. There were hundreds of communal utopian experiments in the early United States, and the Shakers alone founded around 20 settlements. While great differences existed between the various utopian communities or colonies, each society shared a common bond in a vision of communal living in a utopian society. The definition of a utopian colony, according to Robert V. Hine, author of California's Utopian Colonies, "consists of a group of people who are attempting to establish a new social pattern based upon a vision of the ideal society and who have withdrawn themselves from the community at large to embody that vision in experimental form." These colonies can, by definition, be composed of either religious or secular members, the former stressing (in the western tradition) a community life inspired by religion while the latter may express the idealism of a utilitarian creed expedient to establishing human happiness, with a belief in the cooperative way of life.
Amana offers a full line of stylish appliances designed to make life a little easier. From the clever configuration of our refrigerators to the extra cooking capacity in our ovens Amana appliances are full of “common sense details you wi’ll appreciate every day.
Founded in 1934, Amana (the company) is part of the family of Maytag Appliances, a division of Maytag Corporation headquartered in Newton, Iowa. Newton IA is where we stayed the night before.
There are seven Colonies; South Amana, West Amana, High Amana, Middle Amana, East Amana, Amana and Homestead.
Below are some pictures we took on the drive through the colonies
Even the playhground was made to reflect the grassroots nature of the area
Later in Illinois we saw a sign for The Carl Sandburg Historic Site and got off of the I74 (meant to tell you we left the I80 because the road noise was terrible all through Iowa) to try and find the site. Unfortunately the railroad tracks run through town with no over passes and we were blocked by a train going .0001 miles per hour then .000005 miles per hour in reverse. Needless to say we made a U turn and headed back. On the way out of town caught this guy on a Harley.
I noticed the EZ Refinishing sign in looking at the picture. I wonder if Carl Sandburg was the one who shot it out. Galesburg, the little we saw of it had seen better days.
We saw some interesting old structures in Illinios old barns were my favorites
followed by bridges like this one over the Illinois River
It was good to see and old friend from other journeys around the country like this one.
Cracker Barrel Country
We ended up at a Jellystone Park RV campground (yup Yogi Bear is on the sign) and it marks another night with Wireless internet so I can publish this Web Log (blog).
No Scrabble the BBC mystery we missed Monday was re-run.
Quote of the day
"I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way" - Carl Sandburg
mmmmm maybe Carl came back as that guy on the motorcycle.....
Enjoy
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