Now that we have a fuller picture of Iowa painter Grant Wood thanks to a new biography (for details see my earlier post on the topic), perhaps its time to visit the Grant Wood Scenic Byway in northeast Iowa. Stone City inspired Woods landscape of the same name. Anamosa is Wood’s birthplace and home to the Grant Wood Art Gallery (as well as the National Motorcycle Museum, of all things, and one of the prettiest prisons – no joke – around: The Anamosa State Penitentiary, which has an interesting history museum where you can learn about the serial killer John Wayne Gacy who resided there.)
The DM Register recommends traveling on Highway 64 east from Anamosa to Maquoketa (visit Banowitz Antiques and stay the Squires Inn, owned by the Banowitzes) and then Highway 62 to Bellevue…where you can stay at Potter’s Mill B&B (I was there years ago when it was a restaurant); the Old city Hall Gallery; and Bluff Lake Catfish Farm (a restaurant which began as a place where people could catch fish they caught nearby in two lakes.)
TakeBetsywithyou 