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uninformed eye, Meskwaki homes are simply Meskwaki cultural places in the Iowa Valley of strict modern building codes in the Amanas,
buildings dotting the landscape, but taken in Scenic Byway corridor is their state-of-the-art newer buildings conform to this elegantly
context, the community layout is actually a school. After decades of sending their children simple building style, leaving visitors with a
modern reflection of historic events. Following to the school in town, this building is not just a sense of times past�
a 1902 epidemic, the tribe was forced to place of Meskwaki-led education, but it is also
alter their traditional housing arrangement, a practical symbol of the tribe’s ever-important Amana Colony buildings were situated on
switching from a centralized village plan to focus on maintaining and strengthening their the landscape with a purpose: each village
homesteads dispersed across the Settlement. culture� has a farm complex on the edge of town,
This dispersed settlement pattern continues with included buildings such as barns, corn
today, with houses positioned to give each The architecture of the Amana Colonies is a cribs, and machinery sheds. Each village has
family surrounding outdoor space and plenty striking expression of the Cultural Intrinsic a place of worship and cemetery. Industrial
of room separating neighbors. Sun shades Quality. Nowhere else in the United States buildings were situated near the mill race, to
and outdoor cooking areas remain important, do so many well-preserved structures and take advantage of water power. Communal
with some people maintaining gardens and a buildings remain that were constructed as kitchen locations were selected to allow a
few constructing wickiups. part of a communal religious piety movement. short walk from home to the dinner table.
The colony’s distinctive architecture is marked At each communal kitchen or residence,
All Meskwaki Settlement land is communally by a combination of traditional German there was also a thoughtful arrangement
owned, reflecting centuries-old concepts of craftsmanship, American influences, and of washhouses, woodsheds, and other
collective land rights. Land use is typically communal function. Civil, religious, and outbuildings. Farm, pasture, and timbered
determined by tribal council vote. One such residential buildings were designed to be acreage is owned and operated by Amana
decision was the establishment of a tribal sturdy and unostentatious� Cemeteries and Society, Inc., for the benefit of its shareholders,
bison herd. Finally, one of the most important grave markers are similarly subdued. Because mainly descendants of the original pietists.
