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Midwest Traveler: Exploring small towns along the Great River Road in Iowa
Antiques, small towns and beautiful views define one 72-mile stretch along the Mississippi.
JULY 26, 2018 — 6:00PM
PHOTOS BY BETSY RUBINER • SPECIAL TO THE STAR TRIBUNE
The hamlet of St. Donatus, Iowa, features a hike along one of the nation’s oldest outdoor Stations of the Cross.
By Betsy Rubiner Special to the Star Tribune
On a spring day in the Mississippi River town of LeClaire, Iowa, a few visitors explored the tourist-bait antique and gift shops in the small downtown. Nearby, in the wide river, a tug pushed huge barges past an old-fashioned cruise riverboat docked on the levee.
But on a side street off Cody Road — the main drag, named after William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, who was born in LeClaire in 1846 — Antique Archeology buzzed with browsers. Part quirky junk shop, part hipster mercantile, the business is owned by a more recent famous local, Mike Wolfe, co-host of “American Pickers,” the History Channel reality series/antiques show.
Full of vintage finds picked from barns and garages across the country, Antique Archeology was among the highlights of an afternoon drive along a 73-mile stretch of the Great River Road in eastern Iowa, exploring small river towns between the bigger cities of Davenport and Dubuque.
As an Iowa transplant, I have long enjoyed exploring this (mostly) scenic stretch of my adopted home state, with its charming river towns and expansive Mississippi views from grassy levees and limestone bluffs. But I hadn’t driven it in years, and this time I was showing it off to my sister, who lives in Los Angeles. Here are picks from our trip.
LeClaire (pop. 3,974): A rusty Nash car is parked in the brick alley of Antique Archeology, which includes a blue-painted former fabrication shop and a newer brick building. Both display “American Pickers” finds, some for sale and most with a handwritten tag offering helpful details, ranging from what they are (or were) to the story of their discovery.
A long-buried, rust-encrusted 1918 Indian motorcycle, its tag explained, was picked from “its earthy tomb” in Springfield, Mass., and seen on “American Pickers” Season 6, Episode 21. Battered wooden stilts were “picked out of Colorado,” handmade for a worker harvesting peaches, and on sale for $125.
The Antique Archaeology shop in LeClaire is owned by a famous local, “American Pickers” host Mike Wolfe.
Also for sale is Antique Archeology merchandise, some advertising its two stores — in LeClaire and, more recently, in Nashville. I couldn’t resist a black T-shirt with rusty white letters reading “Respect the Rust.” My sister’s purchases included tea towels (for me!) and a flyswatter.
Elsewhere around town, we were too late to spot bald eagles soaring over the river (a winter highlight) and too early for a cruise (May through October) aboard the Twilight, a replica of a Victorian steamboat. But in Cody Road’s historic district, I was pleasantly surprised to find a bounty of locally made food and drink inside brick storefronts.
LeClaire Canning Co. sells pickled vegetables and fruit preserves. Mississippi River Distillery Co. offers free tours and small-batch vodka, gin and bourbon made from local grains. Green Tree Brewery is named after a giant shady elm beloved by river pilots. Felled by disease in 1964, the 225-year-old elm’s remains are among the exhibits at Buffalo Bill Museum, which also features a dry-docked 1860s sternwheel steamboat.
Clinton (pop. 25,719): As a fan of architectural terra cotta — decorative ceramic flourishes often adorning turn-of-the-20th-century buildings — I had to jump out of the car in this city’s downtown to take a photo of the Van Allen Building, a Louis Sullivan-designed former department store. Eye-popping terra cotta on the building’s four-story facade includes bunches of vivid green leaves. A National Historic Landmark, circa 1912-1914, the Van Allen was another reminder of the gems to be found if you keep your eyes and mind open while wandering through Iowa.
Sabula (pop. 551): “Island City” reads the water tower above this tiny dot (one mile long, a quarter-mile wide) in the Mississippi. Make that Iowa’s only Island City, where local lore has it the first European settler crossed the river on a log in the 1830s. We hardly saw a soul, but did spot some old limestone buildings. Standing in a small riverside park, we marveled at the quiet — until a train rumbled across the river on a rail bridge from Savanna, Ill.
Bellevue (pop. 2,177): Beautiful views, as promised by this town’s French name, greeted us from atop a stone bluff in Bellevue State Park: of a downtown with mid-19th-century stone and brick buildings, a town-long riverfront park and Lock and Dam No. 12, one of several dams on the Upper Mississippi. A few hardy hikers wandered the park’s wooded trails, past butterfly gardens and an indoor nature center.
St. Donatus (pop. 131): We landed in this hilly hamlet, settled by Luxembourgers in the early 1800s, soon after its annual big event — a Good Friday procession along one of the nation’s oldest outdoor Stations of the Cross, built in 1861. Where three days earlier about 400 faithful, some dragging a large wooden cross, had walked the historic town’s famous Way of the Cross, there was just us. Parking behind a pretty white-steepled, stone Catholic church, we hiked up a winding dirt path shaded by cedar trees and dotted with brick alcoves containing lithographs depicting the death of Jesus. Arriving at a one-room stone chapel, we gazed out across a peaceful fertile valley that was primed for spring planting of crops destined for grain barges gliding nearby along the Mississippi.
Getting there
From the Twin Cities, the fastest driving route to LeClaire is 338 miles southeast on non-river highways and interstates. For a scenic return along the river, drive north from LeClaire to St. Donatus for 73 miles along Hwys. 67 and 52, part of Iowa’s section of the 10-state Great River Road National Scenic Byway.
Where to eat and sleep
In LeClaire, good dining with river views can be found at Faithful Pilot Café(1-563-289-4156; faithfulpilot.com), a foodie favorite serving creative American fare, and at Crane & Pelican Cafe (1-563-289-8774; craneandpelican.com), offering comfort food in an 1851 Italianate mansion.
In Bellevue, Flatted Fifth Blues & BBQ at Potter’s Mill (1-563-872-3838; pottersmill.net) has barbecue, Cajun fare and live music in a former 1843 grist mill. Mont Rest Inn (1-563-872-4220; montrest.com) is located in a lovely Victorian mansion on a river bluff.
More information
LeClaire Information Center: 1-563-289-4242 ext. 61135; visitleclaire.com or traveliowa.com/trails/great-river-road-national-scenic-byway.
Betsy Rubiner, a Des Moines-based travel writer, writes the travel blog Take Betsy With You.
playing catch up from a hospital bed in dsm, post arm surgery, and no joke…my nurse is name bob
from there we drove downtown to the Nebraska side of the bob (Kerrey) pedestrian bridge whic has some great views of the two states and the river. Found a spot to be in Nebraska and Iowa simultaneously.
onto some other Omaha hotspots that we have somehow missed during brief drive throughs in the past. Our kids, when they were little, would have loved Hollywood Candy, which not only has an outstanding selection of vintage candy (my Royal Crown sour candys greeted me right at the front door) but also an amazing collection of vintage kitsch, old pinball machines, lunchboxes, trolls, records.
we didn’t go into the exhibits at the Durham Museum but we walked around the Art Deco former train station in awe. 
Cubby convenience store 
We have passed through Omaha many times, sneaking in a quick visit to the Indian restaurant in the Old Market, but we have never stayed overnight to explore. So here we are, staying in a spacious 1920s era apartment (thank you Airbnb) in the recently revived Blackstone District on Farnam Street, about 2 Miles west of the old market area. It consists mainly of about 4 blocks of interesting restaurants, bars and a few shops in older brick buildings in what was not long ago, we’ve heard, a rundown area. So basically, our kind of place.
We stopped at Blackstone Meatball because we’d never been to a meatballery before and sure enough they had quite the selection including a meatball flight (a variety of 5) and the meatball of the day (chorizo). We split a small meatball slider – pork with peppers, ricotta, Parmesan, garlic. Very moist and flavorful. Almost light.
we also chanced upon an artist’s in residence open house at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, located in a big red brick former warehouse near the old warehouse district. It’s been around for decades but we’d never heard of it. Our Airbnb hosts suggested it. Walking around the studios that double as living spaces on the second floor, we met an artist from Dublin and another from Riga, Latvia. Word has it there are 10 artists in residence who get a three month live/work studio here — as part of one of the top international residency programs. The work was pretty avant-garde. The main floor is a huge gallery, which was devoted to a one -woman show of “Hot Mess Formalism” by nyc artist Sheila Pepe, with giant fiber macrame installations, as well as ceramics and other mediums. To mark the show, free “hot mess” ice cream (a strange mix of vanilla ice cream and chocolate chips and bits of red licorice was served in little Chinese takeaway cartons. We were advised by some of the artists not to try the other option — avocado ice cream
we also dropped by the Hotel Deco downtown which has a tiny intact original Art Deco lobby and some interesting little bar spaces. Omaha is looking good!
Dinner was at a good small plates place, Strinella, a short walk from our Airbnb, well-recommended by our host. We were too full for ice cream nearby at Coneflower, which is just as well since there was a long line, maybe 50 people, waiting to get into the little place.
What did we do before Google and cellphones? (My mother, writing in her travel journal 25 years ago, asked “what did we do without faxes?”) We found this place, off a winding country road, past horse farms on the outskirts of Council Bluffs, after I googled to find a picnic spot with the best views of the river. It turned out to be a dramatic overlook with some 1930s’ poured concrete, possibly WPA reliefs, depicting the “council.” It seemed like a local secret. There were several well positioned picnic tables, although we could have used a little shade.
Dirck and Russ went to the Vasa ship museum while Francine and I did the campy ABBA museum. We aren’t huge ABBA fans but it is a clever museum with fun interactive elements including an opportunity for visitors to perform on a darkened stage with holograms of the four band members. I couldn’t convince Francine to do it. We each auditioned to be a fifth member of ABBA by singing in a karaoke booth and having our performance graded. Not sure Francine or I made the cut.
Fun day as tourists with Francine and Russ. Nice to have them lead the way! We roamed around the old town of gramla Stan, arriving at the royal palace just in time for the changing of the guard, this time complete with a marching band. Lots of tourists roaming the narrow cobbled lanes and gift shops selling $49 T-shirts.
We decided to splurge on the smorgasbord at The Grand Hotel, which was a trip. Lots of fish, herring, meats, desserts. Once was enough, I am ready to slow down on the eating.
In the afternoon we joined most of Stockholm or so it seemed to watch Sweden vs. England in the World Cup semi finals. Francine and Russ were in the distinct minority, wearing their English football shirts at the Sodermalm bar where we watched the game outside on the street in a crowd spilling onto the street. England won unexpectedly 2-0 and the crowd was very tolerant of Francine jumping up and down in victory.
