Bremer County Museum

If you want to see everything in one place, it may be time to visit the Bremer County Historical Society Museum in Waverly. Regardless of whether you're looking for historic documents, wild African game, wedding dresses, vintage Valentine's cards, musical instruments, crime, or floral pieces made from human hair, you'll be in the right place. This bountiful and varied collection encompasses a myriad of tales from years ago in Bremer County. Charity, Kathleen and I visited the museum in October 2016.

The museum is open from May to October during limited hours throughout the week.  Musical instruments inside included several melodians and  pump organs, all equipped with plenty of sheet music.

A Few of My Favorite Bloggers

One of my favorite parts of blogging is the wonderful people I've met while blogging.  So, today I'm taking a moment to share about my recent meetup with long-time blogging friend Cryslyn, her husband Andy, and baby Emilia, my meetup with Kathleen and her husband Gordon, and an awesome giveaway I won from Carrie!  I'm also going to answer a few questions from Paige.

Meetup with Kathleen and Gordon Franck

I met Kathleen indirectly through blogging, as she was at many of the same campaign events as I when I did my series on the presidential candidates.  I later interviewed her here.  She's also shared a recipe for Coffee Time Cake, which I posted on my blog.

Bremer County Courthouse

On our way to visit the Little Brown Church, we stopped at the Bremer County Courthouse in Waverly, Iowa.  Built 1936-37, the building features Depression Modern architecture, and was funded in part by the Public Works Administration.  

Bremer County was established in 1853, and its first courthouse was a small frame building, which cost $147.50 to build.  This was replaced in 1858 by a two-story 43x63-foot brick building, which cost $23,000.  All of the material used in its construction--brick, stone, and lumber--was produced in the county.  The current structure cost $139,000; over $60,000 of this was supplied by the PWA grant.

St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Waverly, Iowa

On one of my site-seeing trips with Yai this summer, I took a couple wrong turns in Waverly, Iowa and ended up at St. Paul's Lutheran Church.  "It looks like a pretty neat church," I told Yai.  "Do you think we should see if the doors are open?  Or should we continue to our next stop?"  She replied, "We're here.  We might as well see it."

We walked up to the front door...and it opened!  The church is attached to a more modern building (right), which is a Christian school.  So, I headed down to the office, and the folks there gave us the go-ahead to take a tour!

The Wild Carrot Restaurant

After my interview with Kathleen Franck, we all went out for lunch at the Wild Carrot, in Waverly, Iowa, at Kathleen's recommendation.  We sat in a very nice dining room in the back, and the waitress brought us our menus.  My mother remarked that the decor/aura was reminiscent of the Peppercorn Pantry in Aplington, and I would have to agree.