We have been camped in Amana, Iowa for the past four days, and besides enjoying their bakery and the Renneburg Restaurant we also shopped until we dropped! Yesterday we had to go into Cedar Rapids to the Chevrolet dealer to have an engine light checked. On our way back to Amana, we decided to stop at Brucemore as we had been driving past the sign for several years, but could not stop with the trailer along.
Brucemore was build in 1886 by Caroline Sinclair, widow of pioneering industrialist T. W. Sinclair. She built the house to raise her six children. In 1906 she traded homes with George Bruce Douglas of the Quaker Oats and Douglas & Company fortunes. Douglas expanded the property to 33 acres, added gardens and other features and rename the country estate "Brucemore." The home has 21 rooms open for tour at a modest cost of $9.00 per person.
The eldest Douglas daughter, Margaret, inherited Brucemore in 1937 with her husband, Howard Hall. They added a Tahitian Room in the basement and kept an array of pets, including a lion, on the estate.
In 1981 Margaret left the family estate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to benefit the community.
Tomorrow we leave for Sioux City, IA and more tours!
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