Parkersburg Historical Home

One of the places I had the most fun visiting with Yai this August is the historical home in Parkersburg, Iowa, built in 1895.  The home is open Memorial Day through Labor Day on Sundays 1:00-3:00 p.m. and once a year serves as a haunted house for the Rotary Club.  Admission for a guided tour is only about $3 per person, if I recall correctly.

 Upon entering, we were greeted by a couple very nice ladies, Kate Durbin and Chelsea.  Kate, who gave us our tour, was full of interesting information.  Her love for history was obvious, and her ebullient personality was contagious.

Butler County Courthouse

Would you like to visit a county without any stoplights or fast food restaurants?  Head to Butler County, Iowa! This July, Yai and I visited the Butler County Courthouse in Allison, Iowa.  Butler County was formed in 1851 and, like Hardin County, was named for a Mexican-American war hero.

General William Orlando Butler first served as a private in the War of 1812.  During the Battle of the River Raisin, he and his comrades were under such intense fire that afterward he found his clothing was riddled with bullets.  He was captured by the Indians and held as a prisoner of war by the British till he was released on parole.

Austinville Public School

I've always enjoyed looking through photos of abandoned buildings.  Unfortunately (or rather fortunately)  since I'm not a detective, secret agent, [or bad guy], I don't end up in old empty warehouses or houses with squeaking doors, falling axes, secret tunnels underneath, and wind blowing through broken window panes very often.

Butler County Fair

A couple years ago, I wrote about visiting the Grundy County Fair.  This year, I went to the Butler County Fair in Allison, Iowa.  I probably missed the most interesting events (There are rumors of concerts, rodeos, races, and demolition derbies), but I'll give you a glimpse of what I did see.

One of the best parts of visiting the fair this year in June was seeing one of my sisters, Charity, win a blue ribbon, plus a grand champion ribbon, on her pencil drawing of a neighbor boy. 

Austinville Historical Society

Austinville is one of Iowa's blink-and-you-miss-it towns.  It has a grain elevator, photography studio, church, and several houses.  Visit the historical society at 9:00 any Tuesday morning for coffee, and you'll meet friendly people, enjoy delicious cookies or cake, and learn of a rich history of baseball games, bank robberies, and practical jokes.

The town's founders, the Austin brothers, began farming in the area in 1868.  An elevator was built in 1891, and in 1892, the name of the town was changed from Evergreen to Austinville, since another town had claimed the former name.

The Peppercorn Pantry

One place I've passed several times and wondered about is the Peppercorn Pantry in Aplington, Iowa.  This summer I finally walked in, took a look, and decided it would be a great place to review.  So when my family was invited to sing at a Gideons dinner and meeting at the Peppercorn, I seized the opportunity to take some photos.

Independence Day 2014: Part 2

Throughout the parade were many neat looking old and new cars.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

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Independence Day 2014

Today 238 years ago, the United States of America declared independence from Great Britain claiming the unalienable rights with which God has endowed each person: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and assuming among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitled them.  

Since, the 4th of July has been a celebration throughout the country.  This year we joined family in Shell Rock, Iowa to watch the town's Independence Day parade.  

We arrived 20 minutes early and set up our lawn chairs; we were surprised to see that the streets of this small town of 1,300+ people were already lined everywhere with people.