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Washington Evening Journal
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B and B welcomes Haus Walk guests
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
HOMESTEAD — Last weekend’s Amana Arts Guild Haus Walk gave visitors a look at historic buildings in the Amana Colonies, decorated for the holiday season.
Among the homes on the tour was that of Lisa and Jeff Roads in Homestead — Rawson’s Bed and Breakfast Inn.
“We purchased it in 2015,” said Lisa Roads as she welcomed guests Saturday morning. Her husband grew up in southwest Iowa, but Jeff’s family came from High Amana, said Lisa, herself a native of Wisconsin.
Rawson’s Bed and Breakfast has two bedrooms on the main floor and four upstairs for guests and additional rooms for the family. Like many historic buildings in the Amana Colonies, the home is brick inside and out and features hand-hewn timbers.
Rawson’s, located at 4424 V St. in Homestead, was built as a communal kitchen, said Lisa. Constructed around 1862, it provided meals for all the residents of Homestead.
More than 50 communal kitchens provided three daily meals and mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks to residents in the seven villages of the Amana Colonies, according to the Amana Society.
These kitchens were operated by the women of the Colony and were supplied by the village smokehouse, bakery, ice house and dairy, and by the huge gardens, orchards and vineyards maintained by the villagers.
In 1932, during the Great Depression, Amana set aside its communal way of life and many formerly communal buildings were converted into private residences. The homes had to add kitchens when the communal kitchens closed, Lisa said.
During the holidays, Lisa decorates her home and Bed and Breakfast with nearly 30 Christmas trees. She has one in each room and 10 in the dining room alone, she said.
“I just love Christmas.”
The trees are so full of decorations that the branches can barely be seen, said Lisa. “I always just love a full Christmas tree.”
Lisa said her favorite tree is one decorated with her grandmother’s cookie cutters and recipes.
Two of the three dining room tables displayed formal setting in holiday colors. “I love a set table,” said Lisa. “We do breakfast here every morning.”
On the table in the first-floor hallway by the stairs is an extensive Nativity scene. People give Lisa new pieces for it every year, she said.
By the baseboard in each room is a little mouse house.
Decorating the entire Inn takes time. “This year I went slow, and it took me about a month,” said Lisa. She wanted to take her time and enjoy it, she said.
Lisa decorated a tree a day and unloaded a couple of totes of decorations each day, she said. She leaves the decorations up until the middle of February, when Valentine’s Day approaches.
This is the first year the B and B has been on the Haus Walk, said Lisa. It’s something she’s wanted to do for quite some time, but she wasn’t sure how to get on the list.
“I love sharing it,” said Lisa, but people don’t walk in off the street to visit the Inn. “Not a lot of people get to see it. I want everyone to see it.”
The B and B is pretty busy May through October, said Lisa. It has a nice in-ground pool. “We have an herb garden,” said Lisa. “I do a lot of canning.”
During the off-season Rawson’s B and B is not full every night, but weekends are always full, Lisa said.
“I get a lot of girls getaways,” said Lisa, and a lot of retreats. People don’t always stay because they are doing something in the area. Often people book a room and don’t leave the B and B, she said.
Rawson’s Bed and Breakfast has received several awards, according to the Amana Society, including a Peoples Choice Award for top three bed-and-breakfasts in Northeast Iowa.
Also on last weekend’s Haus Walk was the Myers Home at 23 220th Trail, in Upper South Amana, originally a general store built in 1885 after the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul Railroad built a rail line one mile south of South Amana in 1883.
The Brost Home, at 705 E Street, West Amana, welcomed guests as well. Built in 1858, it was the oldest home on the tour. Originally the village bakery, it later served as a general store and cobbler shop for the new village.
The McCarty Home, 2605 J. Street in Middle Amana, built in 1888 on Middle Amana’s “backstreet” as a wagon shop for the village, was also on the Haus Walk, and the West Amana Blacksmithing Shop and the Arts Guild Folklife Center in High Amana were open during the house tour.
