The original building, of fantastic Moorish design with towers and minarets, was constructed in 1892 to highlight the fact that the fertile land was good for growing crops. The present structure, the third version of the Corn Palace, was built in 1921 and is more onion-dome in design, but like the original is covered with designs of ears of corn, outlined with grasses and grains. Inside is a large auditorium, which in summer months caters to visitors with shopping kiosks, videos and displays. The other nine months it serves the local community as a venue for entertainers, the circus, basketball games and proms. Guided tours of the palace are given year-round.
Admission is free.
Many travelers find a link to the land at a restored fieldstone colonial house called The Inn at Fordhook in Doylestown, PA, in picturesque Bucks County near Philadelphia. The elegant house is the former home to W. Atlee Burpee, the legendary seed grower who developed a vast mail-order business with his seed catalogs. Although the seed company has been sold and seed cultivation no longer takes place at Fordhook, many of the old seedbeds have been turned into a community garden, giving the place the feel of an old-fashioned farm. The ranch has been in the Rankin family for more than 130 years and has been accepting vacationers for more than 30 years, making it one of the old-timers in the field of agritourism.