In April I went to Iowa to do research for my historical fiction/ family history book about my grandparents and their honeymoon in 1939.
While in Waterloo, I stayed in a Historic Bed and Breakfast. This beautiful mansion was built in Waterloo, Iowa in 1900-1902 for Henry Weis.
It is a beautiful Victorian house. I really like when houses have so much architectural detail and highlight it with different colors.
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This was the first time I can remember staying in a bed and breakfast. And the Breakfast was really good.
My room as great too. I had a very nice room and on off suite bathroom to myself and a screened in porch. I wrote in the cool mornings out on the porch.
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One of the best things about it was the location. It was a couple of blocks from the Rensselaer Russell House which is where generations of my family lived in Waterloo, including my mother. It is now a museum. I will do a post about the house too!
I wrote in the morning, ate a delicious breakfast and walked to the church, park or house or all three.
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| First Congregational Church | Washington Park | Rensselaer Russell House |
A very cool fact that I learned is that my grandmother lived close to the church- where the parking lot for the church is now- and my grandfather grew up in the Rensselaer Russell house and they are across Washington Park.
They didn't meet until she was 25 and he was 37 years old. They were so close and yet didn't meet until Betty Waterbury's wedding. Fascinating. I think the age had something to do with it. He was 12 years old than her and so even if they lived a block away they were not doing the same things at the same time.
Anther fun part of this historic part of Waterloo is Church Row. The picture below is taken from the First Congregational Church looking across the street.
Trinity American Lutheran Church
Sacred Heat Catholic Church
Waterloo First United Methodist Church
In this map you can see where the Bed and Breakfast and and Washington Park are too.
The Weis Mansion was the ideal location for my research stay in Waterloo. It was the ideal location, great room with a writing porch, yummy breakfast and a beautiful restored historic house!
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