In Search Of A Monument

Friday morning we left for Eastern Iowa for a wedding. Opting for a more leisurely route than I-80, we headed east via US 34. Along the way we marked several stops to make on the return trip. About halfway between Albia and Ottumwa we saw a sign "Swedish American Immigrant Memorial". With Bud's Swedish ancestors on his Mother's side, we decided that was something we would like to see on the way home.

The marker along Hwy 34 indicated the memorial was North, two miles on T61. We drove the two miles with nothing that looked like a memorial marker in sight. Another mile, nada.

There was this huge boulder, but there was no signage around it. We drove on. "It must be just over the hill." After about five miles we decided we had missed it unless that boulder was the marker.

Bud pulled over so I could take a couple photos on the way back. "We'll just have to google it when we get home and see if that is the monument".

Then at the one mile corner North of Hwy 34, coming from the opposite direction, I saw the sign for the memorial marker, "one mile east". So, for clarification, the memorial is one mile north, one mile east of the highway, not two miles north.

And there it was, adjacent to the Munterville Lutheran Church and cemetery. As impressive as the monument was, the first thing I noticed was the small bird perched on the father's hat, singing it's little heart out. By its size, I thought it was a wren, but its song wasn't that of a wren. I think it may be a Henslow's Sparrow.

I took this picture of Bud taking a photo because behind him in the cemetery is a stone with the name 'Nelson' - his mother's family name - that of his ancestors from Sweden. Not that this is any of his relation, that we know of, but it seemed significant that it was the first name I noticed in the cemetery.

I took a photo of Bud with the memorial and the flags of the United States, Sweden and Iowa before getting back on the road.

Even though it took a few extra miles to find it, I'm glad we stopped to see the Swedish American Immigrant Monument overlooking Iowa's beautiful countryside.