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Washington Evening Journal
111 North Marion Avenue
Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
Locals encouraged to enjoy additional public events during Preserve Iowa Summit
While the summit is only open to registered participants, the Mt. Pleasant Historic Preservation Commission ensures local history lovers have access to events as well
MT. PLEASANT — The Mt. Pleasant Historic Preservation Commission is honored to be selected to host the 2024 Preserve Iowa Summit, taking place in Mt. Pleasant on June 5-8, and the commission would like to highlight three specific events open to the public even if they’re not attending the summit.
The summit itself is an annual event for volunteers and professionals involved in historic preservation throughout Iowa and rotates to a different community each year. Conference attendees will come from all across Iowa and surrounding states. While summit attendees will enjoy the totality of the summit, the local community is especially invited to attend three events during the open to the public.
The Summit will open on Wednesday evening, June 5, with a pre-conference mixer at East Grove Farms from 6-8 pm. Summit attendees and the public are both welcome at this gathering.
The farm produces alternate crops like elderberries, aronia berries, plums, peaches, and grapes, many of which are made into mead and wine at the farm’s native winery. The farm was settled in 1837 by Joel C. Garretson and was deemed “Iowa’s Oldest Continuously Settled Farm” by the Iowa Sesquicentennial commission in 1996. The evening gathering will feature a free mead and wine tasting. Cynful Smokers BBQ will be there to serve up their award-winning BBQ. Entertainment will be provided by Whiskey Friends. There will also be wagon tours of the farm and a visit to the restored Pilot Grove #6 country schoolhouse, now located on the farm.
The farm was once a stopover on the Underground Railroad and family members will be there to answer questions about that history. The public is invited to grab a bottle of mead or wine at the wine barn and stroll over to a nearby picnic table and enjoy the rural atmosphere of Henry County and southeast Iowa. East Grove Farms is located south of Mt. Pleasant at 1878 335th Street, Salem.
On Thursday evening, June 6, the Historic Preservation Commission will host a public meeting to present the findings of the Intensive Historical and Architectural Survey that has been underway for the past year. Volunteers have spent countless hours researching the history of 137 buildings in the Mt. Pleasant’s downtown with the goal of establishing eligibility for a Historic District. At this public meeting, the Commission will share historical photographs of the downtown as well as stories and anecdotes from the past that have been unearthed in historical newspapers during the course of the research.
Come and see if you recognize pictures of the downtown in the 1860s or the 1880s or even the 1940s. Those were the days when drugstores where licensed to sell “intoxicating liquor” for medicinal purposes. What happened when a pharmacist decided that a drunk physician, who was armed with a pistol and a knife, should be cut off from his liquor?
The Commission will also share information about the benefits of being in a Historic District and how property owners can access historic tax credits and grants. The presentation will held be at the Heatilator Performing Arts Center, 307 E. Monroe Street, from 7:15-8:15 pm on Thursday, June 6.
On Friday, June 7, the public is invited to “An Evening at Old Threshers” from 6-8 pm. The evening will include a Methodist meatloaf dinner with homemade fruit pies, drinks, and music by Annie Savage and her band, the Savage Hearts. After dinner, attendees can enjoy the steam-powered carousel, get a trolley ride around the grounds, and visit the Theater Museum. Tickets are $20, children under 12 free. For tickets, please call Lea Bradley, 319-931-0671.
