Czech Village in Iowa

27 September 2025

Day two on the road as we wander southwest from Madison, Wisconsin to Branson, Missouri

1012 75,279 70°F Leave Platteville, WI church Harvest Host

It wasn’t long before we were descending from Wisconsin’s driftless region down to the level of the Mississippi river.

Crossing the Mississippi from Wisconsin into Dubuque, Iowa on route 61

Scenes from the freeway as we approach Dubuque, Iowa

1040 75,302 73°F Dubuque, Iowa Visitor’s Center. They have modern restrooms and lots of information about the Dubuque area. If you enjoy gardens, they have a lovely botanical garden where we stopped back in 2023. We aren’t exploring Dubuque this trip, so moved on at 1054.

1218 75,369 79°F Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Beth took photos of the huge Quaker Oats plant as we drove into town.

She even humored me by capturing one of many railroad yards delivering grain to the many silos at Quaker.

While train spotting is one of my hobbies, Beth constructs interesting and unique greeting cards. This made Scrapmania, in Cedar Rapids, a “must stop” location.

They offer a HUGE selection of papers, inks, dies, and other supplies along with craft classes. If one day isn’t enough time, you can stay overnight in the parking lot as part of the Harvest Host program.

1437 75,378 82° Also in Cedar Rapids, we found the Czech Village neighborhood.

Czech and Slovak immigration contributed to the character of Cedar Rapids. The neighborhood hugs the riverfront, where we stopped to walk around and see some of the sights.

Plenty of free parking is available, even for big rigs. We parked across from a large mural inspired by a Czech artist. Read more about it on the plaque below.

The must unique shop was Moss where we found unique framed wall art made from live moss and lichens.

The district is centered around the impressive Buresh Immigration Tower. If you visit, make sure to observe the tower at the top of an hour for an audio and visual treat.

From the tower plaque:
To commemorate the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library’s 50th anniversary in 2024, the Buresh Immigration Tower was renovated to install an astrolabe modeled after the famous Prague Orloj, the oldest, operational astronomical clock in the world dating back to the 15th century AD.
The NCSML Orloj, the first orloj in North America, stands as testament to the Czech and Slovak immigrants who settled in Cedar Rapids. Twelve sculptures depicting the stories of Czech and Slovak immigrants awaken on the hour to the music of esteemed Czech composers Bedrich Smetana and Antonin Dvořák.

Click the link above to see what happened when the Buresch clock reached 3 PM.

Next door to the tower, the National Czech and Slovak Museum welcomes visitors, while the attached library helps those interested in researching family histories.

We didn’t tour the Museum this time, but did stop in their gift shop. Lovely beaded art and prints were available for purchase before heading south to our overnight destination.

1620 75,396 85°F Solon, Iowa

Sandy Beach COE Campground

The campground was a busy place. Bathrooms and showers were fairly old, but clean. There isn’t much privacy between sites. Like other COE campgrounds it is a great value at $28 a night, especially if you have the senior parks pass reducing it to $14. Cell phone service showed 1 bar 5G from AT&T. There is a boat launch for Coralville Lake.

Coralville Lake is part of the Iowa River, created by the Coralville Dam. The river flows from here to Toolesville, Iowa where it joins the mighty Mississippi River across from New Boston, Illinois.