The Amana Colony are a historic utopian society located in the rolling hills of Iowa’s River Valley. The community was established shortly before the Civil War by a group of German-speaking European settlers who belonged to a religious group known as the Community of True Inspiration. Here, they began a communal system of living in seven different villages, which encompassed over 20,000 acres of land. The beautiful Iowa River valley offered extensive timberland, quarries for limestone and sandstone, and long stretches of prairie filled with rich, black soil. Construction of the first village began in the summer of 1855 and the new settlement was named “Amana,” meaning “believe faithfully.” Seven villages make up the Amana Colonies and the Jingle GX gravel race will pass through several of them with the start and finish in the main Amana village.

Today, the Amana Society, Inc., corporate heir to the land and economic assets of communal Amana, continues to own and manage some 26,000 acres of farm, pasture, and forest land. Agriculture remains an important economic base today just as it was in communal times. Because the land was not divided up with the end of communalism, the landscape of Amana still reflects its communal heritage. In addition, over 450 communal-era buildings stand in the seven villages as vivid reminders of the past.

More Information: http://amanacolonies.com