Recreation and Places of Interest

Hunting and fishing are among the most popular forms of outdoor recreation in Iowa. There are many state-owned hunting areas open to the public, and well-stocked lakes, ponds, and streams throughout the state are popular. Camping, hiking, riding, water sports activities, and other active kinds of recreation attract large numbers of people to the state’s numerous parks.

National Parks

Iowa has sites of considerable historic or archaeological interest. One of the best-known sites is preserved in Effigy Mounds National Monument, in northeastern Iowa. Prehistoric mounds are common from the plains of the Midwest to the Atlantic seaboard, but only in this general area were they constructed in an effigy outline of mammals, birds, and reptiles. The monument contains 200 mounds, 29 in the shape of effigies, which were built by Native Americans of the Northeast culture area from 500 bc to AD 1300.

The birthplace and boyhood neighborhood of Herbert Hoover, the 31st United States president, are preserved within Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. Also at the site is the Hoover Presidential Library-Museum.

State Forests

There are four major and six small state forests in Iowa. Shimek Forest is in the southeastern corner of the state. Yellow River Forest includes scattered areas in Allamakee County in the northeast. Holst Forest is in Boone County in central Iowa. Stephens Forest is in the south. All of the forests have facilities for hiking and hunting. There is also a state nursery in Iowa. It is located near Ames, in the central part of the state.

State Parks

Iowa’s many state parks and recreation areas provide Iowans with a variety of opportunities, such as boating, picnicking, camping, swimming, riding, and the study of nature. In addition, some parks, such as Ledges State Park and Pilot Knob State Park, are popular winter sports areas.

Backbone State Park, established in 1919, is the oldest state park in Iowa. It is enclosed by a loop of the winding Maquoketa River, in eastern Iowa. The park is named for a weathered limestone hump that rises above the surrounding prairie. It forms an outlying part of the Driftless section.

In Pilot Knob State Park, northwest of Mason City, a hill 90 m (300 ft) high affords the visitor a panoramic view of surrounding farmlands. Dolliver Memorial State Park, south of Fort Dodge, encompasses a region of sandstone cliffs, deep ravines, and woodlands. Palisades-Kepler State Park, which is on the Cedar River near Mount Vernon, includes an area of sheer limestone cliffs, or palisades. In Maquoketa Caves State Park, 43 km (27 mi) south of Dubuque, are extensive underground caverns and a natural bridge that arches between two high bluffs. Lacey-Keosauqua State Park, which is on the Des Moines River in southeastern Iowa, is noted as a wildlife sanctuary. Wildcat Den State Park overlooks the Mississippi River between Davenport and Muscatine. In the park are a rustic gristmill and a dam that dates from 1838.

Among the state recreation areas that are also historic sites is Fort Atkinson, on the Turkey River in northeastern Iowa. Within the area are several original buildings and the restored blockhouse of a fort built in 1840. The United States Army Corps of Engineers also oversees several recreation areas along the state’s rivers.

Museums

There are museums and art galleries in several of the larger cities in Iowa. Among the principal museums are the Des Moines Art Center, which has a collection of European and American paintings and sculpture; the University of Iowa’s Museum of Natural History, in Iowa City; and the Sanford Museum and Planetarium, in Cherokee. Others include the Davenport Museum of Art; the Grout Museum of History and Science, in Waterloo; the Central Iowa Art Association, in Marshalltown; the University of Northern Iowa Gallery of Art, in Cedar Falls; the Sioux City Art Center; and the Sioux City Public Museum. There are historical museums in many of the small cities of Iowa, for example the Floyd County Historical Society Museum, in Charles City; the Wayne County Museum, in Corydon; and the Albert W. McCallum Museum and Dorothea Brunson Heritage Home, in Sibley.

Other Places to Visit

In Spillville, near Decorah, is the house where the famous Czech composer Antonín Dvorák lived in the summer of 1893, during his visit to America. In Dubuque is the Old Shot Tower, where many tons of lead shot were made for the Union forces during the Civil War. On Floyd’s Bluff in Sioux City stands the Floyd Monument, an obelisk of white sandstone. The monument marks the burial place of Sergeant Charles Floyd, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Amana, in east central Iowa, is one of seven small picturesque villages of the Amana Society. The villages were established by a German religious sect in the 1850s and early 1860s. They are known for the handcrafted products made there and for their fine restaurants. The Grotto of the Redemption is an ornate religious structure in West Bend, a small community in north central Iowa. On the upper Cedar River near Nashua is a frame church, dating from the 1860s, that is associated with the hymn The Little Brown Church in the Vale. Six covered bridges listed as national historic places and romanticized by a popular book and movie can be found in Madison County.