Iowa USA
Destination Guide & Hotel Reservations
Although at times serene, and almost always verdant, nothing about IOWA truly
stands out: this 55,000-square-mile chunk of the Great Plains doesn't even manage to be
completely flat, it just wobbles up and down a little. The state is the very essence of
smalltown America, close to the geographical center of the mainland US, and ranking
decidedly average in size, population and level of personal income. Even the cities seem
at times to be merely villages grown large.
Iowa's history, too, has been relatively uneventful. It was opened for settlement after
the Black Hawk Treaty of 1832, a one-sided exercise in negotiations with the Sauk Indians,
conducted after many of them had been chased down and slaughtered in neighboring Wisconsin
and Illinois. The Northern European immigrants who replaced them made agricultural
development their prime concern, turning Iowa into the " Foodbasket of America
" - a role it generally achieves with scrupulous efficiency.
Tourist attractions in Iowa are few and far between; its most visited destination is
the throwback Germanic enclave of the Amana Colonies . However, the state does also
hold a few oddball sites, such as the original locations for the movies The Bridges of
Madison County (in south central Winterset , birthplace of John Wayne) and Field
of Dreams (near Dubuque in the northeast). You can also see, but not enter, the
original house that featured in Grant Wood's much-parodied American Gothic painting
(at Eldon in the southeast, and now owned by the state).
Reserve a Hotel Room in Iowa USA
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