Two Tales of Spillville, Iowa
By Laura Read
National Geographic Traveler
When 19th century Bohemian immigrants settled in Iowa’s lush Turkey River Valley, they couldn’t have imagined one village would nurture two very different creative passions. The town was called “Spielville,” then, after its German founder, Joseph Spielman. Residents anglicized the name, and quiet Spillville now lures travelers with dueling strains of classical and folk history: It is where the visiting Czech composer Antonin Dvorak produced two celebrated American-themed works, and where two Bohemian farmers carved a lifetime of American images into sculptural wooden clocks. Both tales unfold in a single Main Street museum.
“When people walk in, I see they are thinking, ‘Yeah, right, clocks,’” says Georgiann Eckheart, director of the Bily Clocks/Dvorak Museum. “But when they get into that room, they are awestruck.” More than 40 clocks, some of them 8 to 10 feet tall, were donated in the 1940s by their makers, Frank and Joseph Bily, bachelors who made the town promise never to separate the collection. The clocks are not only keepers of time, but also keepers of history. Panel carvings depict epics of religion, pioneer life, and other influences on the Bilys’ fast-changing world. The “History of Travel” clock documents methods of locomotion, from the canoe and steamship to the car and airplane. The “Statuary Clock” celebrates the Bilys’ heroes, putting Franklin Roosevelt and Michelangelo in the company of Spillville’s first postmaster, J.J. Haug. When tour guides tug a hidden wire, animated figurines burst from moving doors to enliven the clocks’ facades.
The museum also displays artifacts from Dvorak’s 1893 stay, but just as meaningful are the places “The Master” mused and wandered: A spot on the river bank honors Dvorak’s favorite meditation place; The 1860 St. Wenceslaus church contains the restored Pfeffer organ he played.
Complete a weekend at nearby Niagara Cave, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Park & Museum, or the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, where traditional “Kubbestol” chairs are exhibited through March. Chow down at Spillville’s Farr Side ($1 hamburgers on Thursdays; $6 fish fries on Fridays) or dine at the Rubaiyat Restaurant in neighboring Decorah. Later, polka or waltz at the Inwood ballroom. Finally, nurture your own creative dreams under homemade quilts at the Taylor-Made B&B. – Laura Read
Spillville is 70 miles north of Waterloo, IA, 150 miles west of Madison, WI, and 165 miles southeast of St. Paul, MN. The Bily Clocks Museum and Antonin Dvorak Exhibit, www.bilyclocks.org. Niagara Cave, www.niagaracave.com. Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, www.vesterheim.org. Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum, www.lauraingallswilder.us/. The Inwood ballroom “dance-and-be-young” schedule, www.spillville.org. Taylor-made B&B, www.taylormadebandb.com; rooms from $79.