The Sawmill Museum

Between the 1850s and 1900, huge rafts of logs, harvested from the seeming endless forests in Wisconsin and Minnesota, were floated down the Mississippi River to the lumber mills in Lyons and Clinton, Iowa. By 1900 the forest were depleted and the mills began closing.

  Four lumber barons, pictured above, entertain museum visitors with a spirited conversation. They along with 11 more residents became millionaires. The museum has an extensive history of the lumber mills with many great photographs. Unfortunately the photographs are small and the displays have boring statistics and paragraphs of tiny text. This museum would be so much better with larger photographs and displays with descriptive titles and short paragraphs.

  Equipment from the mills is on display. There’s also a work area where demonstrations are occasionally held.

Half of the museum is dedicated to hands-on exhibits for kids including a water table with toy boats to float down the river and a kid size logging camp. Museum  41.87008, -90.17529

Q Casino

  We tried following the signs for oversized parking but construction barriers made it confusing so we stayed on the edge of the main lot. This lot is large enough for any RV.

  We did not visit the casino. Casino  42.51691, -90.64595

Nat'l Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium

The museum explores all aspects of life in and on the Mississippi from the headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico. Two large exhibit buildings – east and west - are connected by a walkway that parallels two outdoor exhibit areas – a boatyard and an aviary with raptors.  Aquariums in both buildings house fish and animals that live in and around the river. A complete 19th-century belt-driven machine shop and hands-on exhibits are in the west building. The east building has historical dioramas and Native American artifacts. Many exhibits highlight conservation, preservation, and restoration projects.

  A small wetlands and a huge dredge are also on the property. The dredge, the William M. Black, is a steam-propelled, sidewheel dustpan dredge that operated on the river from 1934 to 1973. It’s 277 feet long, and 85 feet wide at its widest point. Both decks and the pilot house are opened to tour.

   

  There’s a lot to see so plan on spending four or five hours at  least.

 The main museums are accessible. The walkway connecting the main museums is accessible. The boat shop, located along the walkway, is accessible.The boatyard is surfaced with loose gravel and is very difficult to push through even with assistance. The wetlands and the dredge can be accessed by the exit doors of the east building that are closest to the wetlands. The boardwalk in the wetlands is accessible. The boardwalk to the dredge is accessible but the ramp down to the boat is steep. The first deck has steep ramps for access. The second deck and pilot house are not accessible. Museum  42.49692, -90.66091

Diamond Joe Casino

The lot of the casino is not very large but there is enough room for RVs on the end farthest away from the entrance.

  We did not visit the casino so I don’t know about the accessibility. Casino  42.49747, -90.66103

Effigy Mounds National Monument

  850 to 1,400 years ago the Effigy Moundbuilders constructed small hills shaped like animals along the Upper Mississippi River. They were most likely used during seasonal ceremonies. Many of these low profile mounds were destroyed or damaged when settlers began plowing the land. Fortunately, the Effigy Mounds were preserved when the site became a national monument in the late 1940s. The site has grown to include 2,526 acres with191 known mounds, the largest concentration of mounds in the US.

  The monument has a small visitor center and about 10 miles of trails.

The visitor center is accessible. A short trail leads to a small mound. A one mile round trip boardwalk travels through forest and wetlands. The rest of the monument is not accessible due to hilly terrain.

  The parking lot has long RV spaces.  Monument  43.08885, -91.18693

Casino Queen Marquette

  This is a river boat casino with a large parking lot on the west side of River Street. The main dining venues are also in the west parking lot. A skywalk crosses the highway to provide access to the casino. We did not go to the casino or the restaurants.

  The parking lot is not visible from River Street so watch for the turn onto Brown Street and follow it back to the lot. Casino 43.04032, -91.18017

Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum

  Three floors and a basement are chock-full of of artifacts and Norwegian crafts. Many of the items were donated by the families of the early immigrants who settled in Decatur, Iowa because the hills and forests in the area reminded them of Norway. An additional twenty three crates of items were donated by the Norwegian government in 1925 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Norwegian emigration. The museum houses an amazing number of beautiful artifacts.

 The museum covers the history of the migration and making a home in America. There’s even a complete log cabin that was built using one tree. Other galleries include special exhibits, crafts, church history, and open storage. Twelve historic buildings are located on the grounds and open for tours at 1:30 p.m. We walked the paths and read the informative signs but did not tour the buildings.

The museum is accessible. The replica of a Norwegian home has a high threshold. The paths in the historic buildings village are paved and smooth. Most of the buildings have steps at the entrance.

Parking for cars and RVs is on the street. Museum  43.30423, -91.79184

 

Spam Museum

  It seems like everyone makes jokes about Spam from the GIs during WWII ( they were feed entirely too much Spam) to Monty Python. The museum even gets into the fun with quotes from the soldiers and a clip of the Monty Python sketch, “Spam”.  But there’s also a serious side of the museum which covers the history of the company, the different ways people all over the world use Spam, and the development of Spammy, a fortified spread made from turkey to provide a nutritional food for children in Guatemala. There's also a play area for kids.

 

 

  If you’re lucky or unlucky depending on your perspective, you may be offered samples of original and new flavors. The samples that we tasted only reinforced our desire to avoid it – way too much fat and salt.

  The museum is accessible.

  The closest parking is located behind the museum in the lot on 1st Street NE. Several long spaces on the street are marked for buses and RVs. Museum  43.66946, -92.97362