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Stone City in an unincorporated town of fewer than 100 residents that began whithering away when the demand for limestone plummeted a century ago. As you can see by the ruins, it's an almost-ghost town, although on the Sunday afternoon I visited, there were more than 100 people at its General Store Pub.
The old water tower is a part of the former John A. Greene Estate, where the colony was centered. St. Joseph's Catholic Church is used only for special ceremonies.
I tend to shy away from politics in my travel writing--although it was impossible for me to do so in California Collision. But it's important to note that Iowa is on the front line of the gay marriage debate. Last year the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the state's ban on same-sex marriage violated the its constitution. Of course the occasion was marked by some American Gothic parodies. Three members of the Iowa high court who voted in favor gay weddings, were thrown off the bench by Iowa voters. Lest you think the Hawkeye State has turned right-wing, it hasn't. Besides Nebraska, which has a unanimous Republican House caucus, Iowa was the only Midwestern state not to flip a U.S. House of Representatives seat from Democratic to Republican.
What does this have to do with Iowa's best-known painter? In the just released Grant Wood: A Life,
But as you can see in the entries in this series, there is more to Iowa, as Louis Gossett, Jr. quipped in An Officer and a Gentleman,
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
The Wapsipinicon River flows through Stone City.
Next: Prison cemetery
Related posts:
- My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: The Natchez Trace Part Four, Ghost Town
- My Kansas Kronikles: Smoky Valley Scenic Byway
- Upper Peninsula Upventure: Keweenaw National Historical Park, Quincy, Part One
- Upper Peninsula Upventure: Keweenaw National Historical Park, Calumet
- Chicago Marathon 10/10/10: Boystown
- California Collision: The Castro
- California Collision: Harvey Milk's Camera Shop
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